The Emrys Exchange
by Mwizard10
Summary: When Harry faces down Voldemort in the Ministry, A mysterious man by the name of Emrys defeats Voldemort in place of Dumbledore. When the man becomes the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Harry's year becomes far more interesting, but yet so much more sinister. Rated T for Violence and Swearing.
1. Chapter 1

Harry had never felt so angry in his life. His Godfather - dead. Killed at the hands of the bitch Bellatrix. All he could feel was the building rage searing through his veins. Bellatrix was climbing to her feet, mocking him over his failed Crucio.

"Never used an Unforgivable before have you? You have to _mean_ it Potter! You need to really want to cause pain – to enjoy it – righteous anger won't hurt me for long –I'll show you how it's done.

Harry snarled, dodging the Crucio and firing a stunning spell which Bellatrix easily blocked.

"Does the little Potter boy think he can take down the big bad Bellatrix?" She crooned. She sent a lash of fire at Harry, striking him across the cheek. "Now give me the Prophecy Potter."

Falling back, Harry winced as his cheek burned. As he stumbled to his feet he felt a surge of searing pain from his scar. Voldemort must have learned what happened to the smashed prophecy. Getting up Harry starts to laugh hysterically, his sanity slowly breaking.

"Your dear old mate Voldemort knows the prophecy is gone! He's not going to be happy with you, is he?"

Shocked, Bellatrix stumbles back. "NO! MASTER I TRIED, PLEASE DON'T PUNISH ME!"

Harry's scar sears with pain and he clutches it as if his head would explode. Falling to the ground gasping he looks up at Bellatrix, a small voice wondering why she hadn't finished him, to find Voldemort standing behind her. Harry scrambled to his feet as Voldemort began to slowly stride towards Harry, his yew wand flicking into his hand.

"Potter." He snarled. "I have nothing left to say to you, you have irked me far too much, for far too long."

He pointed his wand at Harry. "AVADA KEDAVRA"

Harry stood weakly as the familiar streak of green light flew towards him. He almost smiled, after all this time, he would finally be defeated. At least he would be with Sirius once more.

Harry closed his eyes in anticipation for the end. Suddenly, he heard something scraping across the floor, and then an explosion. Opening his eyes he sees the smoking remains of a statue in front of him. Sighing in relief, his earlier willingness for death forgotten, Harry realizes that Dumbledore must have found him.

"It was foolish coming here tonight Voldemort." A voice called from behind him. Harry's brow furrowed as he turned his hand. The voice was a younger one, and definitely not Dumbledore's. A man strode into the room from the shadows. He was young, he appeared only to be a few years older than Harry. He had raven hair with a youthful face, and yet his eyes looked weathered and worn. He wore a strange red cloak with matching blue seams. Somehow it fit the strange wizard.

"Who are you?" Voldemort hissed at the man. He merely smiled simply replying,

"I am Emrys."

Harry felt a chill go down his spine. The name seemed to almost carry power of its own.

Voldemort stood at the center of the room studying the man.

"Well then Emryssss." He hissed "You have made me, the most powerful wizard, your enemy. I am not without mercy, step away and you will live."

The man merely smiled, and walked forwards towards him. Voldemort narrowed his eyes as he brought up his wand.

"Very well. AVADA KEDAVRA."

The bright green curse once again left the yew wand and bolted towards Emrys. Looking almost bored, Emrys merely raised his hand. His eyes seemed to glow gold. A bright shield swirled around him and the killing curse struck it with a deafening boom, dissipating off the shield.

Voldemort's eyes widened in fear and shock as he stumbling back.

"That's - That's impossible!" He shouted. "The killing curse cannot be blocked - by anything!"

Emrys smirked. "Perhaps for you."

His eyes flared gold again as he raised his hand, a bolt of lightning flashed towards Voldemort striking him and sending him sprawling across the room.

Voldemort growled as he rose.

"You will pay for your insolence!"

Emrys grinned. "Not by a guy with no nose."

Waving his wand, Voldemort began the duel, sending a giant snake of fire straight for him. Emrys transfigured the fire into a sword, catching it and throwing it back. Voldemort easily flicked the weapon away. Holding out his wand, black lightning seemed to run up and down it before flashing towards Emrys who _caught_ it and threw it straight back.

Surprised, Voldemort was once again flung across the floor, landing heavily into the wall. Growling he flicked his wand upwards. Statues all around the atrium flew at Emrys at an alarming speed.

Before they hit him, Emrys struck the floor, the statues exploding around him. Emrys scattered the pieces, enchanting them to attack Voldemort repeatedly. Voldemort swept up his cloak, firing spells and into the swarm of pieces.

Emrys thrust out his hand. A whirlwind of air seemed to circle around him, centering on a single space in front of him. The whirlwind slowly swirled into the point in front of Emrys's hand until there seemed to be nothing there. Emrys continued to outstretch his hand, keeping it steady.

Having dispatched the enchanted shards, Voldemort turned to face him.  
Emrys smiled sweetly at him.

"This was a fun workout but I'm afraid we're about to have an audience."

With that, a loud DING rang around the chamber. Voldemort was instantly thrown _through_ the wall, right at the approaching Minister's feet.

"There you are Minister, one Dark Lord for you." Emrys said, his eyes twinkling.

"That was some spectacle" An old voice boomed across the chamber. Turning, Harry saw Dumbledore striding across the room.

"I'm afraid I was delayed by a few rambunctious Death Eaters Harry." He said apologetically. "I came as soon as I could but it seems you were in capable hands."

Harry said nothing, just nodded, at that point, he was too stunned to say anything.

"Now then, who might be you be?" Dumbledore asked as he walked up to Emrys. Emrys smiled

"Oh no one important, I just happened to be wandering by, thought I would help out."

Dumbledore studied him before saying,

"Really. You just _happened_ to be in the area, and just _happened_ to humiliate and defeat Voldemort?"

"Yep!" Emrys replied cheerfully.

"Dumbledore what the hell is going on?!" Fudge roared stepping through the Voldemort sized hole into the room, effectively cutting off the conversation. Sighing Dumbledore turned.

"Well it would seem that Voldemort is back as I repeatedly told you, and attacked the Ministry tonight. It is only because of Mr. Potter, His friends and Mr.…..?" He said looking at Emrys. Emrys looked thoughtful for a moment before saying.

"Emrys." He said. Harry looked confused before saying.

"I thought your first name was Emrys?"

Emrys laughed before saying

"No, my first name is… Leon."

"You don't sound too sure." Harry replied.

"In any case." Dumbledore continued, giving the man a strange look. "Mr. Emrys as well as Mr. Potter and his friends helped stop Voldemort's raid and - whatever he was after."

Fudge stood there for a moment.

"But- But he can't be back!"

Dumbledore coldly looked at him.

"I have told you once, and I will not tell you again, He is back. I, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Emrys fought him and his followers tonight. I suggest you start taking cautionary measures, you may even be able to save your spot as Minister if you act now." He said. Turning away from him, Dumbledore grabbed both Harry and Emrys and apparated them both away.

Landing in Dumbledore's Office, he motioned them to both have a seat. Emrys merely raised his eyebrow and continued to stand, an annoyed look on his face.

"I would have preferred to just leave the Ministry myself Dumbledore."

Dumbledore ignored him, looking at Harry who had fallen down into one of the chairs looking exhausted. Abruptly turning, he looked at Emrys.

"Please give us a few minutes of privacy Leon, I do apologize for dragging you here, but I think Harry and I need to talk."

Emrys stared at Dumbledore for a few minutes before nodding, and strode out of the room, closing the door behind him.

~0o0~

After about 10 minutes Harry came out of the room a lingering angry look on his face.

"Well that was some yelling match." Emrys commented. Harry glared at him before all anger left his system.

"Thank you for saving me." He simply said. Emrys smiled.

"Well of course, In any case I believe your headmaster wants to see me, I'll see you around."

"Will I?" Harry asked.

Emrys turned slightly, the ghost of a smile playing on his face.

"Of course, if I'm right." Smiling, he winked at Harry and strode into the room.

~0o0~

Merlin Emrys smiled as he walked into Dumbledore's office. It had been a long time since he had been back to Hogwarts. Memories haunted him of the founders, possibly some of his greatest apprentices and friends. Ever since they had fought and broken apart, a small part of him never wanted to return to the great castle. Sometimes however, sacrifices needed to be made.

"Ah Leon, take a seat." Dumbledore said, sitting at his desk. Bits and bobs of objects were strewn across the floor. Raising his eyebrow but wisely not saying anything, Merlin took the seat across from Dumbledore.

"Now then. I have something very important to ask you." Merlin smiled and looked at him expectantly. He had a funny feeling of what Dumbledore needed.

"I'm afraid another year has gone by and I have a position open in my staff, I would be honored if you would fill it."

Merlin smirked a little.

"You don't look surprised." Dumbledore stated.

He shrugged saying,

"It's well known your school has a hard time keeping Defense Professors."

Dumbledore chuckled.

"Yes. Unfortunately, some claim it's cursed."

Merlin considered the offer for a moment, deciding if he really wanted to spend the next year in a school full of teenagers. In the end however, the desire to help the boy, Harry Potter on his journey, overwhelmed his cautions.

"I accept."

A/N

Hello! So this technically ends here, but if I feel like it, I might expand this into a series. Oh and also, all that happened during the line break was Harry's anger in Dumbledore's office, nothing changed during that scene really, so I didn't feel like writing it back in.

Edit 8/19/16: Reworded some things, added a bit and polished the chapter up a bit. I'll be doing this periodically whenever I'm in the middle of writing a big chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Merlin paced around the room, trying to remember where he had set his wand. He swore he had just had it but he was tempted to leave the blasted thing, he only used it to fit into the wizarding world. His mind quickly flipped from his wand to the next day. Although he always tried to keep calm, inside he was really quite nervous about the prospect of teaching. It had been centuries since he had last taught, and it had always been just an apprentice or two, never a whole class, let alone eleven-year-olds!

Sighing, he walked over to his desk vowing to find the over glorified stick later. He had mainly taken the job to keep an eye on Harry, after encountering Voldemort or one of his servants in each school year, Merlin was getting concerned for his safety.

Sitting down, his nervous energy spent, he mindlessly changed his walls blue with a snap of his fingers. He had been debating between a deep maroon or blue through the whole summer. His quarters had previously been barren, but Merlin had quickly brightened up the place, transfiguring in furniture but made sure no pink was in sight. He shuddered at the thought of Umbridge once living in the room. Although never meeting her himself, he loathed the thought of the toad-like woman.

He had opted to stay in his classroom and quarters for most of the summer break, making adjustments to décor and planning out his lessons. He had very little company as none of the other teachers seemed to stay at Hogwarts with the exception of Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore and a few others that he hadn't taken the time to get to know.

With School starting in the morrow, Merlin was checking and rechecking over his schedule. Grabbing his planner, he started to flip through the pages. His eyes flashed gold, the papers in front of him quickly flipping to the side until one lay in front of him. He smiled seeing the name "Harry Potter" on the register for his sixth-year class.

He had known of Harry's destiny since the day he was born. He had felt the Old Religion converging on him marking him as the one to cast off the darkness. The day Voldemort attacked he had felt a great pain as the Old Religion cried out, using him to help stop Voldemort's dark magic kill Harry. Sufficient to say, Merlin had been exhausted after the experience

He had, then and there sworn to do everything he could to help Harry fulfill his Destiny. Although he hadn't interfered much through the years, during the raid on the Ministry, Merlin had felt that Dumbledore wouldn't have arrived in time, and Emrys took his place.

Now he would be teaching him. Merlin wasn't sure if he had made the wisest choice that night when he had excepted Dumbledore's offer, he was an old man, he wasn't sure if he could take all the teenage angst, childish tantrums and misguided logic that went along with teaching those centuries younger than him.

Getting up, stretching and striding to his bedroom, intent on finding his missing wand, Merlin knocked into a table, a vase falling off in the process. With a flash of gold eyes, the vase stopped in mid-air and appeared back onto the table. Looking up, Merlin found himself in front of his dressing mirror. He still looked as young as the day Arthurs died.

It had been over a Millennium since Arthur's death. He had long since made peace with his mistakes, although it had taken a few centuries and the near destruction of the world. Since his youth Merlin had quickly learned Magic as it once more flourished under Gwen's rule. At the time, he didn't know what his name really meant, and the curse that came with it. He had expected to die and move on with Camelot, not to outlast it. He still remembered the pain he had felt when he realized that Emrys, his other name, meant "Immortal". He had isolated himself from the rest of Camelot until Gwen forced down the door and dragged him out of his tower.

He smiled faintly at the memory of his long lost friends. He wondered if they would recognize him. He was confident, far more confident than he was. He knew almost every branch of magic and had even made significant advances in both Old and New forms. He was far more powerful than even Voldemort and Dumbledore combined, something he had aptly displayed at the Ministry. At first, he had fretted that Dumbledore had seen him block the killing curse, but after re-examining his memories in a pensieve he had realized that the old wizard had only appeared towards the end of the skirmish. Speaking of Dumbledore….

Merlin turned away from his mirror, striding from his bedroom, making sure not to bump into the table again. Walking up to his door, he swiftly opened it to find Dumbledore standing, ready to knock.  
He had a surprised expression on his face and stood back from the door.

"Come in." Merlin said smirking.

Dumbledore strode into the room, eying him strangely.

"So Dumbledore, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Dumbledore quirked his eyebrow saying, "Please Leon, call me Albus."

Merlin smiled remembering the fake name he had used. Leon, for some reason was never included in the legends. "Well then Albus, what can I do for you?"

"I merely would like to inquire how you have been settling in. The first time teaching can always be stressing and nervous, especially the day before"

Merlin nodded his head. "I'm a little nervous, I must admit. However I believe I will do just fine, but thank you.""Excellent." Dumbledore replied. "If there's anything you need, anything at all, be sure to stop by my office Leon."

"Will do." Merlin replied.

Dumbledore turned to leave before stopping and turning.

"Oh and Leon, I would suggest taking better care of this." He pulled Merlin's wand out of his cloak giving it to him.

"Thanks." Merlin said sheepishly

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and he strode out of the room.  
As Dumbledore walked out of the room he reflected on the man. He had been present at the defeat of Grindelwald where Dumbledore had displayed an impressive display of power, it was nothing compared to his own, but impressive in its own regards. Merlin remembered a few days after his arrival in the castle that Dumbledore had pestered him on where he had trained and how he known where Harry would be. After a few attempts, Dumbledore had given up, seemingly happy to just have him on staff. Although Dumbledore may have had his faults, Merlin believed him to be a good man though he believed Dumbledore's questioning to be far from over.

~~0o0~~

Merlin fidgeted up on the Staff Table in the Great Hall. He anxiously awaited for the students to arrive. Looking to his side, he felt Snape's glare on him once again. Trying not to roll his eyes at the man's pettiness reminding himself that Snape had wanted the job for years.

Unconcerned with Snape at the moment, Merlin was more nervous about the incoming student. _Get ahold of yourself, you're over a millennium old!_ Merlin scolded himself. Taking a deep breath, He projected his usual mask and aura of calmness. He looked around the Great Hall noting the lack of change since the time he had helped build it. He remembered Godric had managed to somehow lock the doors shut with him still inside. It had taken the combined forces of Himself, Helga, Rowena and Salazar to open it. Salazar had teased Godric for days after. Merlin hated that Salazar was remembered as he was. He was sarcastic and cold sure, but his ideals had been a far cry from the pureblood extremist that he was painted as.

Merlin was jolted from his thoughts to see the second to seventh years streaming into the hall. The quiet hall was transformed into a loud and boisterous place as the students went to their respected tables. Merlin scanned the sea of students, looking for Harry, noticing the curious glances he got from the incoming students.

Frowning as he saw Ron and Hermione, Harry's friends, entering the hall without him, Merlin stood up walking out the back door. Quickly, He closed his eyes and threw out his "presence". Every magical person had a distinct "aura", it was what most modern day Wizards used to cast their magic. By throwing out his presence, Merlin was able to tell different auras and who they belonged to, it was how he had found Harry at the Ministry. Casting out his senses, he scanned Hogwarts looking for Harry's aura. On a hunch, he cast out his senses all the way to the carriages, and finally onto the Hogwarts Express.

Merlin's eyes snapped open. Harry was on the train still, and he wasn't moving. Concerned, Merlin started to hurry to the train before an idea popped into his head. Looking around briefly, Merlin murmured an incantation, his eyes flashed gold, a whirl of wind surrounded him, and then he was gone.

~0o0~

Merlin arrived in the middle of the train. His method of transportation was far more comfortable then apparition, and it had the bonus side effect of not being stopped by modern wards. Merlin always felt guilty using it to get past wards, but modern magic just was no match for the Old Religion.  
Throwing his presence out again, he followed Harry's aura into another carriage, where he promptly found him laying underneath an invisibility cloak. He smiled as he looked at it, he had to give it to modern wizards, enchanting a cloak to give invisibility was a genius idea. However, he was easily able to defeat it by modifying his perception of the world slightly to match the charm on the cloak.

Bending down, he swiftly pulled the cloak off of Harry. Looking at him, he noted that Harry was, in fact still conscious, but not moving. His nose appeared to be broken as well. Must be the Petrificus Totalus spell Merlin quickly assessed. Going to draw his wand, Merlin swore as he realized he had left it in his chambers. He preferred to use his wand around other wizards as to not draw attention, although he absolutely loathed the stupid thing. It was far too restrictive.  
Merlin quickly looked away as his eyes flashed gold and Harry was released from the spell. Harry's eyes widened and quickly backed against the wall.

"Emrys?!" He said confused "How- how did you find me?"

'Well, you weren't at the feast, I figured you were probably in trouble yet again." Merlin said teasingly.

Harry blinked a few times, his broken nose continuing to bleed as he stood up from the carriage floor. His face contorted into a confused expression yet again. "But - why were you at the feast?"

Merlin smiled faintly

"I'm your new Defense Professor, I told you that you would be seeing me again. Now, hold still and close your eyes."

"Why?" Harry warily asked, backing further into the carriage.

Merlin looked into Harrys eyes before saying simply,

"Trust me."

Harry hesitated, before nodding and closing his eyes, leaning against the wall. Merlin's eyes flashed gold and Harry's nose cracked, back in its normal place. His eyes flashed again and Harry's blood slowly cleaned away. Harry's eyes opened again.

"Thanks" He said smiling.

Merlin nodded, then grabbed Harrys arm, feeling another presence come out of the castle  
"Time to go."

Merlin's eyes flashed gold again, and they were inside his office. Harry jumped away from Merlin, his eyes wide.

"You-you can't do that!" He said shakily "There's Anti-Apparition wards!"

Merlin cursed himself, he had just wanted to get Harry out of there quickly and into his office. He had rushed when he felt Snape's approaching presence, knowing of the old hate between the two. Thinking fast, he replied calmly.

"Only against the students, once you become a teacher, you are keyed into the wards to move around freely."  
Harry eyed him suspiciously before nodding and sitting in one of the chairs as he looked around.  
"Why are we here?"

"Because I didn't think you would want to make a scene in your muggle clothes" Merlin replied grinning.

Harry nodded again looking around the room again.

"Why're the walls of your office such a strange color?"  
Merlin gaped at him.

"They're – They're not strange! It's Oxford Blue!"

Harry raised his eyebrow before shrugging.  
Merlin glared at him as he strode over holding a platter of food.

"Here" He said "I'm afraid I must go back down for the remainder of the feast, help yourself, and try not to insult the rest of my room."  
Merlin swiftly walked out of the room as Harry stared after the strange wizard, wondering why his school years always had to start off so strangely.

A/N  
Annnd here's the next chapter. I was really surprised and excited about the amount of reviews, follows and favorites I got! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I tried to reply to everyone who left one, but for some reason Fanfic wouldn't let me for a few people, sorry about that. So, one thing I want to bring up is that in this Fanfiction Dumbledore never put on the cursed ring, It'll be briefly mentioned why in a future story, I just wanted to clear up that little tidbit.  
Next chapter will be featuring Merlins first class. Anyway, thank you all so much again, and have a wonderful day!

Update: Thank you to SongoftheDarquePhoenix for pointing out that my spacing was really screwed up in this chapter. Everything should be fixed now.

Update II: Thank you to both Grayswandir and viridianln9 for pointing out that somehow I duplicated a paragraph. Should be fixed now and I learned my lesson, make sure to check everything In the Doc Editor because transferring the document over seems to screw a few things up.


	3. Chapter 3

Merlin strode into the class confidently. Today was his first class with the sixth years and subsequently, Harry. He hadn't seen Harry since the feast, only briefly taking the time to let Dumbledore know where Harry had been.

The classroom fell silent as he walked in, eager faces looking up. Merlin knew that the story of how he had humiliated Voldemort had spread like wildfire through the school, and he hoped to not disappoint.

"Good morning class!" Merlin walked to the front of the room, carrying a box with him and placing it down on his desk.

"Sorry I'm late, these only just came in." The class looked curiously at the box and then again at him.

"My name is Professor Emrys, and by the sign on the door, obviously teaching Defense." He said chuckling.

The class stared at him blankly. _Alright, enough with the terrible jokes Merlin_ He thought.

"So then! This year in Defense I hope to teach you all that there is more to it than just memorizing a bunch of spells. Reflexes, and true understanding of a spell are just as important as knowing the basics. For example, can anyone tell me everything the stunning spell does?"

Hermione raised her hand

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

She briefly looked surprised that he already knew her name.

"The stunning spell, also known as " _Stupefy_ " renders a person unconscious, it can be counter-spelled with "Enervate" by another wizard. It was developed by-"

"I'm afraid I only want to know the effects of the spell, although the reversal spell was a nice touch, Miss Granger." Merlin said his eyes twinkling. "Is there any other effects of the spell you can think of?"

She looked surprised before meekly saying.

"No sir?"

Merlin nodded before saying

"Five Points to Gryffindor for a good answer. Can anyone tell me the long-term effects of a repeated _Stupefy_ on an unconscious body?"

The class looked between themselves before looking back at him, obviously confused.

"What long-term effects Professor?" Harry asked, his brow knit in worry.

Merlin smiled briefly before saying;

"Multiple Stunning spells to an unconscious person can result in permanent brain damage."

Harry and the rest of the class looked stunned.

"Don't worry, this only happens with an already unconscious person, stunning someone while they are conscious will have no lasting effects."

Harry looked relieved at Merlin's proclamation.

"My point from this discussion, is that you can learn a lot of useful things about even standard spells like Stupefy. We will be learning practical spells in here, but also how to use them further than what's on the tin." Merlin said.

"It's a muggle expression" Merlin explained to the class's confused looks.

"Now." Merlin said as he walked over to the box. "Wands out."

The class looked excited and worried at his command.

"Don't worry it's nothing dangerous. It's just simply..." Merlin pulled out a cube.

"A cube?" A Gryffindor asked in disbelief.

Merlin laughed. "No, well yes, but it's called 'The Cycle Cube.' It tells you how powerful your overall magic is when casting spells. It can be used to for normal spells to help you refine your skill but today we will be using the incantation _Intra Potestatem._ The spell tells the cube how powerful your ambient magic is." Merlin said. The class chattered in excitement.

"Wicked!" Ron exclaimed. Merlin smiled as he started to hand out the cycle cubes.

"The cube will emit a color based on your magic. A deep gold is the highest the cube will go, a light blue is the weakest. Red means in between. Now, very rarely will the cubes be exactly these colors and instead be different shades such as deep blue, orange and such, perhaps even Oxford Blue" Merlin said, shooting a meaningful look at Harry as he passed the box around.

Harry rolled his eyes and took a cube from the box.

The class started to mutter the incantation and the room was bathed in glowing colors. Merlin was proud to see that Harry's cube glowed a deep orange.

"Professor?" Hermione asked a pulsing red tinted cube sitting in front of her.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" And uneasy feeling started to form in Merlin's stomach.

"What does your cube look like?"

Merlin's heart thumped for a moment before he replied calmly.

"An orange color, nothing too impressive."

"Can you show us?" Harry's voice called across the room.

"Well – that might not be the best idea." Merlin stuttered, trying to remain calm.

"Why not?!" Ron exclaimed.

Merlin sighed before nodding, seeing the growing suspicion in the faces around him. He took out his wand that he thankfully remembered for once.

" _Intra Potestatem_."Merlin said, attempting to restrain the flow of magic.

It was to no avail, the cube instantly started to hum, turning into a deep and chaotic gold color. The Cube started to shake, its intensity increasing until finally it blew up. The entire castle shook under the power of Merlin and the students were sprayed with the broken shards of the cube. Everyone backed away from him and looked at him with shock on their faces and fear in their eyes.

Merlin quickly tried to think of an excuse.

"That is why I did not want to try, these are student Cycle Cubes and overload very easily." He lied easily. "Now, take your seats and turn to page 394.."

The class groaned at the dreaded page number, momentarily forgetting their fear of him.

* * *

Merlin sat at his desk with is head in his hands. Why couldn't he of just done something simple for his first lesson? Just left it at stunning spells, and moved on? Now all the teachers were suspicious of him, he had to admit he was the one who made the castle shake during a staff meeting. Blaming it on a faulty Cycle Cube, he believed he had alleviated some worries, but a few teachers such as Snape still gave him suspicious looks.

He sighed before standing and stretching out. Mumbling to himself he flicked his walls maroon, before realizing what he had done and changing it back to blue. The rest of his classes had passed without an incident, discounting the feared looks a few still gave him. Pacing his room, he switched his mind off the topic, feeling it was best to not dwell on it any longer, instead he switched his mental track over to Harry again.

Harry had seemed so fearful in class when he realized that the stunning spell had even deeper effects. Merlin frowned at the thought, surely Harry must have known that? With all the extra training Harry did, he was surprised he didn't know.

Come to think of it, Merlin wasn't sure if Harry had extra training, before he shook his head, scoffing at the idea. Surely Dumbledore would have made sure Harry had extra help, he was the one destined to fight Voldemort after all.

Still a small seed of worry had planted itself into Merlin's heart, and he knew that he wouldn't be satisfied until he checked. Compromising with himself, he promised to watch Harry and see how he reacted to higher skill questions.

* * *

Merlin stood at the front of the class, ready to start a new lesson with the Sixth year Gryffindor's, and hopefully not blow anything up this time.

"Today class, we will be taking the name "Defense" quite literally. Although you can cast a bunch of fancy curses and spells all you want, you will quickly meet your end in a duel if you cannot defend against them."

"Now then Mr. Potter, can you tell me the best magical way to block the freezing spell?"

Harry stared up at Merlin with a look of confusion.

"The shielding charm sir?"

"Yes, but which one?"

"Protego sir?"

Merlin stared at Harry in disbelief, was the only shielding charm he knew _protego?!_

"No, I'm afraid not Mr. Potter, the best thing to use would be a fire deflection."

After asking several other questions during the class, Merlin learned that Harry knew nothing advanced, except the Patronus charm. To be fair to him, Harry was good for his age and better than most in his class. But he would fail miserably in an actual duel. As the class left the room, Merlin heard Hermione whisper to him;

"Professor Emrys was being completely unfair to you, we don't even cover half that stuff until our seventh year!"

Feeling as if he had to rectify the situation, Merlin called Harry to his desk.

"Yes Professor?" Harry asked in a slightly aggravated tone. Merlin winced, he has singled Harry out during the class.

"What extra lessons have you received Harry?"

Harry stared at Merlin confused,

"Extra lessons sir?"

Merlin stared at the boy in shock;

"You have received no extra help? On anything? No advanced Defense classes?"

Harry shook his head.

"No sir."

Merlin felt anger bubbling up inside him. Nodding stiffly Merlin replied coldly.

"Thank you Harry, you may go."

~0o0~

"A childhood?! That's your excuse, Albus?!" Merlin roared. He was standing inside Dumbledore's office, glaring down at him after confronting Dumbledore on Harry's lack of training. Dumbledore had simply replied that he had wanted Harry to have a childhood.

"He is The Chosen One! The one destined to fight Voldemort, and you want him to go without any training!"

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak before Merlin cut him off.

"No! I do not want to hear any excuses, I am training the boy, and that is final Albus." He said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

Dumbledore stared at Merlin before sighing and replying.

"It seems I have no choice, but I implore you to consider the boy's life."

Merlin glared at him before snapping back.

"I am."

He turned and swiftly stormed out of the room, slamming the door on the Headmaster.

* * *

Harry sighed as he sat on his bed. He once again couldn't sleep. Nightmares plagued his dreams night after night. The image of Sirius going through the veil haunted him. How could he of let this happen?

And then Emrys has saved him. He still wasn't sure what to think of the strange man. He seemed nice enough, a bit odd, but then most wizards were. He had told Hermione and Ron about him, but he had kept the fact that Emrys had blocked a killing curse to himself. He felt as if he would be betraying Emrys if he told.

Harry was still puzzled over the professor's actions, why had he seemed so stressed and angry when he had learned that Harry hadn't had any special training? Harry didn't want to be treated different from anyone else, he just wanted to be Harry.

Feeling suddenly exhausted, Harry leaned heavily against his bed post. Wondering where the sudden tiredness came from, he slowly slid down until he fell back into his bed, rolled over and quickly fell asleep

* * *

Harry stood in a dark cavern watching as wizards slowly blasted rocks away. Turning from his post far above the mining site, he saw a man in black robes walking up to him.

"So Rokiv, have you found it?" Harry asked coldly, his voice betraying no emotions. The man, Rokiv, nervously stuttered

"N-n-n-o my lo-ord. B-but we think we're almost there." Harry studied the man for a moment before nodding, dismissing him.

"How goes the excavation?" A deep voice called from behind him. Turning, he found a man in front of him. He had wavy dark hair with icy blue eyes. His skin was pale and he

wore a dark coat, his face seemed to meld with the shadows. Harry narrowed his eyes at the man, he hated working with others, but it was necessary. For now.

"It goes well, thanks to your findings." Harry replied testily.

The man laughed clapping him on the back, "It is the least I can do for the services of your men Voldemort."

Harry gasped, and he felt the world spin. The man turned frowning back at him – no – at Voldemort.

~0o0~

Harry woke with a gasp, sitting upright, and sweat coating his features.

"Voldemort." Harry whispered in fear.

A/N Hello everyone! Some of you may have gotten an email about this chapter being out yesterday, I'm afraid the formatting was once again wrong, so I yanked it down pretty quickly. FanFic does not seem to like me, but I got it working. Also, just to make something clear, this won't be a Dumbledore bashing fic, but he certainly isn't perfect. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I try to reply to everyone, and especially thank you to **Ravenclaw667** who took to the time to inform me that this chapter did not go up. Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying the story, but try not to expect it to be a perfect one, I am only starting out in writing, but nonetheless I value all constructive criticism to make this story better, I am after all still learning.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry tiredly made his way into his Defense class, sitting in-between Ron and Hermione. He had barely slept the past few days, nightmares continuously haunted him. Hermione briefly glanced up at him from her book, something on defense no doubt, before returning back her attention. Ron seemed to be at as good of a state as he was, but then Ron never was a morning person.

Professor Emrys cheerfully entered the room, marking the start of their lesson. Harry briefly wondered how anyone could be so energetic in the morning.

"Books and Wands away, were going to be doing a thinking class today." The class groaned at his words before Emrys tone briefly turned serious.

"None of you will live through a duel if you can't think to escape it."

The mood of the classroom instantly dropped. Not at his words, but how he looked. Normally The Professor looked young and cheerful but on rare moments such as this, he looked thousands of years old, and his eyes seemed to carry lifetimes of misfortune. Then the moment always passed, and it would seem as if nothing had happened at all.

"Mr. Weasley, what would you do if someone shot a spell you didn't recognize at you?"

"Block it." Ron replied confidently.

"Why?"

Ron gaped for a few moments, struggling to respond.

"So I don't get hit?" He said weakly

Emrys smiled briefly before saying:

"I believe this perfectly transitions into our actual topic of the day, shielding. Although dodging, which is generally what you should do if you don't recognize the spell, is useful, you will often find yourself in circumstances in which you must block a spell."

"The first thing to understand is that anything you do magically, drains you. Anything. From simply levitating a cup of water to firing the stunning spell, it slowly drains your reserves. These reserves are called your Core, and is what Muggles believe to be your soul. It is what enables you to cast magic. The bigger your reserves, or core, the longer you can last in a fight."

"Now, when you cast a basic shielding charm, Pretogo, you instantly dump some of your reserves into the shield spell. If the energy spell that impacts the shield is greater than the energy you put into the shield, the shield fails."

"There are of course better shield charms for different situations, but the basic one can be good enough in a pinch."

Harry was wide awake now, although sometimes dozing through class's, he felt as if he had learned more in one lesson then he had in all the years of defense, with the exception of Lupin's.

"Now, open to page 396, Im afraid I was only joking about books away…"

The rest of the class passed easily until the end of class.

"Good work today!" Emrys said. "Class dismissed, but Mr. Potter please stay after."

Harry resisted the temptation to groan. He didn't want to be questioned on anything again. Packing up his bag, he walked over to Emrys.

"Yes Professor?"

"Do you remember our last discussion, Harry?"

Harry noted that Emrys changed between calling him his surname and his first.

"The one where you interrogated me, Professor?" He asked innocently.

Emrys spluttered slightly

"I did not interrogate you! But yes, that one. I talked to Professor Dumbledore and he has agreed for me to tutor you in advanced defense."

Harry felt stunned. He slowly shook his head.

"I can't Professor."

Emrys looked shocked.

"Why not?"

Harry hesitated.

"Because – Because I don't want to be treated differently."

Emrys smiled sadly.

"I understand. But Harry, you need to know this stuff, more than anyone. "

Harry looked at Emrys with a surprised expression. Emrys was speaking almost if he knew The Prophecy.

"Why me?"

Emrys laughed.

"Believe me, I ask myself that all the time."

Harry smiled, but had a feeling that Emrys wasn't talking about him. He nooded

"Alright."

Emrys smiled.

"We will meet after the feast in the Room of Requirements."

Harry looked shocked.

"You know about it?!"

Emrys chuckled at his expression.

"I do. Now remember, tonight after the feast. "

"Tonight?" Harry questioned.

"No time such as the present."

~0o0~

After leading Harry to the seventh floor, Merlin stepped into the room with a satisfied nod.

The room was huge with black carpeting. On the floor to the left there were several training rings with runes that stopped stray spells from hitting other objects in the room. On the right there were several stations to help tune different skills. Such as a cauldron with ingredients, and blocks of wood and metal for transfiguration.

Jutting out the back wall was a library full of Defense books, as well as some other texts such as Charms.

Harry's eyes grew as he went into the room.

"I never knew you could request something like this!"

He exclaimed.

Merlin laughed. He had helped Rowena create the room way back when and such he could use it perfectly.

"I've been using it since I came to Hogwarts, you tend to pick up a few tricks here and there."

"Now then, let's get started shall we?"

Harry in spite of himself looked quite excited. He nodded happily, seeming to marvel at the amount of space he had to practice.

Although Harry didn't know anything advanced, Merlin could tell that once Harry learned something, He would master it easily. The problem would be teaching him. He liked Harry but he knew that younger people had trouble concentrating on learning base concepts so that they can master advanced spells.

"Come on then." Merlin called walking over to a table in the library.

Harry followed diligently, although he had a slightly put-out expression on his face.

"Now then, as I've said many times in class Harry, you will be nothing without the proper knowledge."

Harry hesitated before replying:

"I know – but I've already been in battle. Doesn't that count for anything?"

Merlin turned, expecting an approach like this from Harry.

"Did you duel any Death Eaters besides Bellatrix Harry?"

Harry shook his head.

"No Sir."

"Did you take any Death Eaters down Harry?"

"No Sir."

"What happened when you faced Bellatrix?"

Harry paused before dejectedly saying.

"She beat me easily."

Merlin sternly stared at Harry before saying

"Then why do you believe you have the proper knowledge for a duel Harry?"

Harry sighed, ruffling his hair.

"I don't sir."

Merlin nodded.

"I know you want to jump into casting spells, but believe me Harry, this is as, if not more Important than jumping into the dueling ring immediately"

Merlin sat down at the table, summoning a book to his hand.

"Now come on Harry, sit."

~0o0~

Harry stared at Merlin with a confused expression. A book on magical cores lay in front of him.

"Emrys, why have I never heard about my core if it's so important?"

Merlin smiled, glad that Harry was asking the right questions.

"Because the wizarding world is less interested in the how's and is content to only understand enough to perform magic, you do not need to know about your core if you wish to perform magic, only if you want to refine it. "

Harry nodded.

"What exactly can I do if I learn more about my core Professor?"

"Refinement of your core allows greater control of the energy you put into your spells, in a long battle you don't want to be throwing around more power than is needed, quick and precise spell work makes for an excellent dueler."

Harry nodded, seemingly hesitated and then asked;

"Is that why you are so good at wandless magic sir?"

Merlin sighed, he had been expecting Harry to eventually ask him about that, he had debated on what to tell him for some time.

"No Harry. I used something much more advanced, that I hope to one day teach you. Today is not that day." Merlin said solemnly.

Harry nodded.

"Now then! Enough theory, let's put it to the test." Merlin said abruptly standing up.

Harry looked excited as he followed Merlin over to one of the training rings.

Merlin strode to one side while Harry walked to the other. Facing each other, Merlin got his wand out that he (thankfully) remembered.

"Right then, I want you to cast as many spells at me as you can until your completely exhausted. I will not fire back, only deflect and block your spells. I'm afraid you will be completely exhausted tomorrow, but we need to see how you're doing so far."

Harry nodded and raised his wand arm.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted sending a jet of red light at Merlin who easily deflected the spell.

Harry continued to shout spells at Merlin for about 10 minutes before he collapsed from exhaustion.

"Why wasn't I able to go that long sir?" Harry asked weakly.

Merlin laughed lightly, pulling Harry up.

"Most times in a battle you won't be casting spells for 10 minutes straight Harry, you did well for your first time."

In truth, Harry had done very well. Wizards his age usually only lasted up to 5 minutes before collapsing on their first try.

"Now then, head to bed Harry. Next time I will start to teach you how to better control the energy you throw off with your spells."

Harry blearily nodded, stumbling out the door to the sweet call of bed, the door slamming shut behind him.

Merlin stood in the center of the room, fire and shadows flickering on him for a few moments before snapping his fingers and whirl-winding to his office.

A/N. Hello everyone! I've had one or two reviews expressing some concerns that the Cube explosion scene from last chapter resembled another Merlin/Harry fanfiction called Not What You Seem. I had never before read this fic, and It is never been my intent to steal ideas like that. The idea actually comes from another Magic book that I read in which a Cube tested the strength of a spell. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I don't think it was my greatest but I released it as I felt that I really started to get moving on the story. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed this story!


	5. Chapter 5

Harry quickly ducked as a spell shot over his head, hitting the ring behind him. Rolling to the side, he shot another spell at Emrys who easily deflected it to the side, returning three spells in quick succession back.

Harry's eyes widened before he managed to block two of the spells. The last spell hit him, flinging him out of the ring and deactivating the runes around it.

"Better." Emrys said. "You're still throwing around a little more energy then you should, but it's a definite improvement."

Harry smiled. It had only been a few times since their first practice cession but they had already fell into a comfortable routine. Emrys would lead Harry to the library, they would go through a book or two, then Emrys would bring him to the ring, they would practice what he had learned that day, then they would duel.

"Thank you Professor." Harry said.

"Off to bed then?" Emrys asked. Most times Harry was too tired to continue after their duel, but on occasion he would stay after.

Harry shook his head, then hesitated.

"Actually sir – I wanted to ask you something."

Emrys rolled his eyes.

"First off, stop calling me 'sir' outside of class Harry, I think we know each other well enough for that." Emrys grinned. "And, ask away."

"Well." Harry started. "Can you teach me nonverbal spells?"

Emrys raised his eyebrows before asking.

"Why?"

Harry by now was used to Emrys's unorthodox questions to catch you off guard.

"So that whoever I was facing wouldn't know what spell I was casting."

Emrys nodded in approval. Then smiled cheerfully.

"Right then! Come on." he said beckoning Harry with a wave of his hand.

~0o0~

Merlin sat down at a table in the library. He was quite impressed with Harry so far, he seemed to learn very quickly and was taking some initiative in asking his own questions, something that younger people seemed to refuse to do.

"Now then." He said cheerfully. "To understand how to cast Non-verbal spells, I could beat the usual method into your head."

"But?" Harry asked half grinning.

"But – I have a better method."

"Of course you do."

Merlin looked at Harry.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"Of course not _sir_."

Harry said, his eyes filled with mirth.

Merlin half growled and rolled his eyes. Now he knew how Gwen used to feel, he could only imagine how Harry would treat him if he knew who he was.

"Right then. To really understand Non-Verbal spells, we must take a look at how we use magic. Now, how would you cast a spell Harry?"

Harry momentarily gave him a strange look before saying.

"I would say an incantation and make the wand movements."

Merlin nodded before leaning forward, preparing his favorite question that almost never failed to throw people off.

"Why?"

Harry started to reply before his question entered his mind. Then he sat in shock.

"I – I – I don't know?"

Merlin smiled. It was such an obvious question for anyone who didn't have magic, he often had to try to explain to Gwen why other sorcerers needed incantations and he didn't.

"No, again the wizarding world is more interested on the do, and not the why. The reason is simple. Your magic responds to your will."

Harry sat back as he thought of the implications of that.

"So. I perform non-verbal spells by understanding how they work and willing it to happen."

"No. I'm afraid that's nearly impossible." For modern wizards Merlin thought. "It's almost impossible to will, shape and bend your magic to do exactly what you want. That is why incantations are so important. Over the years, it slowly becomes ingrained into the fabric of magic itself. That's why every day and common charms are so easy to cast, while less used spells are more difficult to do so."

Harry's eyes widened.

"So that's why cleaning spells are so simple, but dueling spells aren't."

Merlin nodded.

"Exactly."

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment before asking:

"So how do I cast non-verbal magic then?"

"It's very simple. Instead of focusing on the word and shouting it out loud, you focus the word and say it in your head."

"That's it?"

Merlin grinned.

"Obviously it's a bit harder than that, but that's the basics."

Harry nodded excitedly, obviously eager to get started.

"Bed first Harry, this takes a great deal of concentration."

Harry's shoulders drooped.

"Yes Emrys."

Merlin smiled after Harry as he tromped out of the room. Shaking his head fondly at the eager young man, Merlin snapped his fingers and disappeared.

~0o0~

Harry sat in Potions anxiously waiting for the period to end. Today was the day Emrys was going to teach him non-verbal spells. Harry had never really been interested in Academics, but over the course of Emrys's few days of training, it had taught him that almost anything could be useful in a battle.

Shaking himself of his thoughts, Harry looked up at the board reading off Snape's handwriting. Harry sighed to himself, crushing leeches into a paste. He often found himself hearing Emrys's voice in his head questioning everything. Why did adding balbling produce this effect? Why was it important to stir a potion this many times? Why did Snape never actually do anything besides write a few instructions on the board? Why did he hate Harry so…

"Mr. Potter."

Harry quickly looked up. Professor Snape was standing next to him.

"Yes Professor?"

"What exactly are you doing?" he sneered.

Harry looked down, confused, to find that his leeches were far past the paste they were supposed to be.

"Sorry Professor. I was thinking."

"And so the mind of a Gryffindor is. Unable to think on more than one thing. 5 points from Gryffindor." Snape said, walking away.

Harry gripped the table angrily, his usual temper flaring up.

"Why sir?"  
Professor Snape stopped. Then slowly turned around.  
"20 points from Gryffindor for cheek."

"For asking a question sir?" Harry asked his temper in full rise.

Professor Snape quickly strode over to his table.

"And here we are, always just like your father, arrogantly believing your better that you deserve to always know. Another 20 points from Gryffindor. Mr. Potter would you like to make it a detention?"

"No sir."

Professor Snape sneered at him before striding away.

~0o0~

Harry stood in one of the training rings, swishing and flicking his wand.

 _Stupefy_. He thought as he slashed his wand. Nothing happened. Growling in frustration, Harry slashed his wand severally times repeating _Stupefy_ in his head.

"Harry" Emrys called.

"Stop, this is doing no good, you must concentrate to perform nonverbal spells."

Glaring at Emrys, Harry sighed his shoulders slumping.

Emrys walked into the ward ring putting his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Come on." Emrys said nodding in the direction of the table. "I know you really want to learn non-verbal spells, but learning how to minimalize the amount of energy you're throwing around might help."

Harry sighed, but nodded, diligently following Emrys to the library table once again.

"Now then, waving a wand around and shouting words is all well and good but its magic that lets us actually do anything besides looking ridiculous."

"Your core is the center place of your magic. It stores it and regenerates it with food and rest. The proper wand binds to your core when you pick it up, allowing you to use it to better focus it. Without a wand, it is up to a human mind to focus and will the magic alone, which is why wandless magic is so hard."

Harry leaned forward a bit before asking.

"Why can you cast wandless magic so easily then sir?"

Emrys laughed his eyes sparkling with amusement,

"We will get to that at some point Harry, I promise you."

~0o0~

Harry once again stood in the middle of the ward ring, concentrating.

 _Stupefy._ Snape's sneering face entered Harrys mind. _Stupefy_. Snape laughed at his incompetence _. Stupefy_. Snape leered at him, daring him to say anything to defend himself.

"DIFFINDO!" Harry roared slashing his wand while walking out of the ward ring.

"DIFFINDO!" A chunk of the room was slashed open.

"DIFFINDO!" The transfiguration table was broken into bits.

"DIFFINDO!" A bookshelf toppled over.

"Harry!" Emrys yelled grasping onto him.

Harry whirled around and without thinking yelled

"DIFFINDO."

The jet of light slashed at Emrys who raised a glimmering shield, the spell dissipating with a bang.

The room went silent, Harry and Emrys stood a few feet away from each other. Emrys studied Harry, a cold emotionless mask over his face before uttering:

"I'm disappointed in you."

It was all he said as he strode from the room, but Harry felt his heart break into pieces.

A/N Well. This was an… Interesting chapter to write to say the least. So many emotions! Hope I did a decent job at it, on a side note, I usually reply to everyone a few minutes before I post a new chapter, so if I don't reply to you in a while, you know why. To a guest reviewer, I was not offended by you asking if I had gotten the glowing cube idea from somewhere else, I just wanted to clear the matter up. I am posting this.. fairly late at night, but hey, inspiration hit and I finished off the last scene.


	6. Chapter 6

Merlin paced back and forth inside his chambers. It had been a few days since Harry had lost control and threw a spell at him. Merlin knew that Harry hadn't meant to, that it had been a reaction to being surprised by a touch.

But that was no excuse for how he acted. He had seen Harry's temper flare a few times before. Harry had a temper, younger people usually did. But never had Harry snapped and hurled around destructive spells during one of their lessons. (Merlin did have to proudly admit that Harry's spell-casting seemed stronger then they had when they started).

So why? Why the rage that had consumed his features? Why the anger that had amplified his spells into blowing apart most of the room by using a simple spell taught in third year? Something just seemed wrong.

Merlin sighed sitting down. It most likely was just Harry's temper. He had to remember that Harry was still only a teenager, prone to imbalances just as he had gone through many lifetimes ago. Not everything was a conspiracy.

~0o0~

Harry drearily drifted in between classes. Both Hermione and Ron pestered him, asking what was wrong. Harry insisted that he was just coming down with something. Both of his friends had frowned at him and he got the impression that neither believed him.

Harry sighed refocusing on Professor Mcgonagall in time to hear the days instructions, researching human anatomy. They had been slowly researching human transfiguration, similar to what Krum had done in Harry's fourth year. Reaching forward, Harry grabbed his book and started to flip to chapter 3; The Lungs. Harry started to read before losing himself in his thoughts once again.

Tonight was the night he was supposed to head to the Room of Requirements for the next training session. He didn't know if Emrys would be show up. But Harry would be.

~0o0~

Harry shuffled around his bed, preparing to go. Usually he side-stepped Ron and Hermione and pretended that he went to bed early. Sneaking down the staircase Harry found both of them with their arms crossed staring at him.

"Going somewhere?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah – I - uh." Harry started.

"Come on mate, stop lying to us, we know you haven't been going to bed early, we let you be, but now that your acting like this –" Ron said

"We're worried about you Harry." Hermione said her eyes pleading.

Harry sighed, contemplating. He didn't really want to tell them. He was afraid Ron would get angry because he was getting special treatment. A small part of him selfishly just wanted Emrys to himself but he quickly quashed the thought.

"Look. Guys, I appreciate your concern, but I really got to go, I have a detention."

"With who?" Hermione asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Snape." Harry sighed.

Ron shook his head. "Slimy bastard."

Harry nodded, smiling at Ron.

"I got to get going, sorry guys."

Harry hurriedly brushed past them, hoping by Hermione's suspicious stare after him that she wouldn't dig too deep into it.

~0o0~

Merlin sat in the Room of Requirements quietly thinking. It was the day Harry was supposed to show up for lessons, but Merlin wasn't sure if he would. If he didn't, Merlin would be sure to seek out and talk to him.

Getting up, Merlin started to pace again. If Harry did show up, they would be having a very different lesson today. It was time to see if anyone had bothered to teach Harry in matters of the mind.

The door to the room slowly swung open and Harry nervously walked in, shutting and sealing the door behind him.

Merlin smiled , glad to see that Harry had decided to come up and face him.

"Harry." Merlin said, inclining his head.

"Hello Professor." Harry said his voice strained.

"Come on Harry, I think we have a few things to talk about."

Harry looked up, a surprised expression on his face. Merlin smiled, rolling his eyes.

"You expected to me be angry, and not be willing to teach you anymore didn't you?"

Harry lowered his head again.

"Yes Professor."

"I am not angry Harry, you are still young, and I expect mistakes from you. Now come on, let's sit and talk. And stop calling me Professor."

Harry smiled and followed Merlin over to one of the tables.

"Now then, would you like to explain why you got so upset and started cursing the room into oblivion?"

Harry chuckled a little before looking downcast again.

"I – I'm not sure. I tried to silently cast _Stupefy_ , and – well this sounds stupid but Snape's face entered my mind. I had an argument with him earlier in the day. He just taunted me in my head, and – It was like a voice or – something just compelled me to lose control. I just felt – angry. It was like I was barely controlling myself. I – I don't know what happened Emrys. I've never felt like this before."

Merlin sat back at puzzled expression on his face.

"Harry, has anything similar to this ever happened before. Strange feelings, sensations – dreams?"

Harry's eyes shot up to his.

"Dreams then. What happened Harry?"

Harry hesitated and closed his eyes.

"Sometimes – Sometimes I have dreams where I am him. Where I stand in a dark room lording over others. Sometimes I dream that I – that I torture them. Death Eaters that is. "

Merlin's eyes widened before cursing himself. He should of suspected something like this!

"Harry. When you went to the Ministry. Did you receive a vision?"

Harry meekly looked down before hoarsely whispering.

"Yes."

Merlin nodded. He had thought that Harry had found out about the prophecy and impulsively rushed to find out what it meant. This revelations however shattered all of Merlin's previous assumptions.

Merlin sighed, leaning forward and clasping his hands together.

"Harry, when two wizards go through an extreme amount of trauma at the hands of each other, a permanent bridge, or link to each other. I believe this has formed between you and Voldemort on the night that you killed him. Although you have a natural temper, your connection with him would allow some of his hatred to bleed into you."

Harry look astonished before asking him:

"How do I stop it?"

Merlin laughed. "Well that's the fun part; Occlumency "

Harry's face morphed into horror before he shook his head.

"Professor Snape tried to teach me last year sir."

Merlin was surprised.

"He did? How did it go?"

Harry looked at him pointedly.

"There's a reason I said tried."

Merlin laughed, shaking his head.

"Well, let's go over the material first, what did Snape cover?"

"He mostly just invaded my mind and yelled that I wasn't trying hard enough, oh and to clear my mind."

Merlin raised his eyebrows.

"That's – Well, that's one way to attempt to teach it. However I will be teaching it slightly differently. First, let's start off with your mind, or as many people call it, your mind-scape. Now most people's mind-scape is simply a jumble of memories, imagine flickering screens swirling around in your head. One way to do it is to conceal your memories, imagining a black void so that your attacker simply sees nothing. This is how Professor Snape taught you, obviously this isn't the best method, although the best known one."

Harry nodded.

"So how are you going to teach me Emrys?"

Merlin smiled.

"You're going to build your mind-scape into something different. It's going to be a hard process, but ultimately it should help you control your connection with Voldemort, and help you better control your emotions."

Harry smiled, the excitement back in his eyes.

"Let's get started."

~0o0~

Harry stumbled back up into his dorm, his mind exhausted. Emrys had showed him several methods to help restructure his mind and it had ultimately left him dizzy.

He felt like he had accomplished something however, unlike Snape's training. He sighed as he stumbled up this room and blearily collapsed on to his bed.

~0o0~

Harry sat coldly on this make-shift throne. It was the dead of night and a worthless servant lay bowed at his feet.

"Speak." He muttered annoyed with the idiot below him.

"My lord, the icy one is here. You asked me to fetch you if he -"

"Get him."

"Yes my lord."

The servant scuttled out of the room loudly banging the doors behind him. Harry made a mental note to Crucio the idiot as soon as possibly. He impatiently sat before deciding to stand to make a formidable impression. It would not be due for his... ally, to see him idle.

Another servant came crashing into the hall with another man trailing behind him. Harry studied his ally. His piercing snowy blue eye's had the Death Eaters nickname him "Icy One." Harry had tortured the idiots when he had heard.

"Hello "My Lord." The man said mockingly walking up to him and shaking his hand. Harry flinched, backing away.

"Is it free yet?" He asked coldly.

"No, not yet, but soon."

Harry smiled cruelly, allowing himself one brief moment of joy.

"And then, Harry Potter and Leon Emrys will be dead at my feet."

The man scowled losing his cheerful demeanor.

"That wasn't the deal. You can have Harry Potter. I will take Mer – Emrys's life."

Harry studied the man for a moment.

"Very well."

~0o0~

"And this man – what did he look like?"

"He – he had black hair and pale skin. He wore a black coat. But his eyes. His eyes were like ice."

Merlin sat back frowning.

"And you say he threatened to kill me?"

Harry sighed before sitting back.

"Yeah. He promised my life to Voldemort's. Voldemort insisted on killing you but the man insisted that you were his. What did you do to tick him off?"

Merlin shook his head.

"I don't know. But we better continue to practice. It looks like we're both are going to need it now more than ever."

Harry nodded smiling before standing up and starting to stride over to the dueling ring before turning around for a moment.

"Although something did strike me as odd."

"Oh?" Merlin asked.

"Yeah, your name, he called you Emrys, but before that. It sounded like he said "Mer" or something before correcting himself. Do you know what that means?"

Merlin froze shell shocked. That was impossible. Icy eyes, black hair and pale skin.

"Emrys?"

Merlin shook his head before smiling.

"Sorry, lost in thought. No I don't know, probably just a slip of the tongue. Now come on, we need to practice Occlumency during battle."

Harry groaned before continuing to walk over to the dueling ring. Merlin started to stand staring off into space before shaking his head and muttering.

"He's dead. Harry must have been mistaken."

 **A/N:** Hey Guys! Looks like most people really liked the ending of the last chapter. I hope you guys don't mind the tacked on bit at the end of Harry's vision. I was originally going to do it at the beginning of chapter 7 but I felt it fit at the end of chapter 6 as it wasn't that long.

To Mr. Guest Reviewer: Spot on sir, Spot on.

So to discuss a few things that I can see being asked:

No, Merlin doesn't know that Harry is a horcrux, he assumes that both Voldemort and Harry were simply linked when Harry was a baby.

Harry's temper is being amplified by his connection with Voldemort but he does still have a moderate temper of his own. And Voldemort's connection isn't the only reason why his anger is amplified ;).

Most people can probably guess by now who the "Icy One" is, but if you cant, don't worry it will be revealed at some point.

Well that wraps up most of what I wanted to say, Ill see you guys next time. (And maybe a bit sooner.)

 **A/N(2)**

This chapter is going up a little later then I intended due to the fact that I couldn't find it and thought I had accidentally deleted it. Luckily I found it again!


	7. Chapter 7

Harry quickly ducked as a spell slammed into the runic wards behind him. Narrowing his eyes, he quickly twirled around the next spell, carefully reining in the amount of magic that helped propel him.

Landing swiftly on his feet, he winced as Emrys launched another mental probe at him and simultaneously two other spells. Harry quickly reflected one of the spells before dodging the next. Emrys's mental probe continued to mount and grow in strength as he continued to fire off spells at Harry.

Harry growled twisting, dodging and trying to fire a spell of his own. Focusing, Harry repelled the mental probe, sending a mental shockwave towards Emrys. Again dodging and blocking, Harry fired off a few spells, whispering the incantations. Emrys merely deflected all of the incoming projectiles without even moving. Harry fell to one knee as Emrys's mental probe started to penetrate his mind.

Gritting his teeth he threw up his strongest shield to block the next barrage of spells as he struggled to fight off the mental attack. _At least he'll have to move to hit_ _me._ Harry thought. Ever since their second duel it had been Harry's goal to make his teacher have to actually move during one of their matches.

Instead of throwing a few spells at Harry like he had expected, Emrys merely looked at Harry before whipping his wand upward. A huge streak of light bolted across the ring, slamming into, and breaking, Harry's shield, flinging him once again out of the runes.

Harry groaned lying on the floor. Emrys chuckled as he walked up to him offering out his hand.

"Better, much better Harry." Emrys said smiling as he pulled Harry up.

"Remember, anticipate what your opponent will do, but don't stake your life on it, unless of course it's the only thing you can do. You mistakenly believed that I would move to the side to attack you, thus buying you time. Your strategy will not work if your opponent is clever or more powerful than you, of which I'm both."

Emrys said, a cheeky grin on his face at his last remark.

Harry rolled his eyes but smiled at his teacher.

"Come on Harry back at it, we need to teach you how to better block against mental attacks."

Harry groaned but followed Emrys diligently.

~0o0~

Harry once again stood across from Emrys, this time his wand stowed away.

"Now then, this will be a mental duel only, once one person successfully breaks into the others mind, the duel is over. Got it?"

Harry nodded, slightly nervous. Although Emrys and Harry had dueled while mentally fighting, a one on one mental fight was something of its own. Emrys had done a great job at teaching Harry however. His mind took on the characteristics of a sunny forest. It still wasn't fully developed, but Harry still had to sort through all of his emotions and feelings. Emrys had told him that once a mind had a mind-scape it became much easier to focus on defending it. Occlumency and Legillemency were remarkably similar, at least the way Emrys taught it.

"Alright then begin."

Harry flung up a shield around his mind. Although his mind-scape passively protected his mind, a direct attack required Harry to actively defend himself.

Emrys's mental probe hit his shield hard, making it shudder as Emrys continued to attempt to drill into his mind. Wincing, Harry quickly reinforced his shield around the area, thinking fast.

Harrys brow furrowed as an idea sprung into his mind, working quickly, Harry hobbled together a mental cannon, firing it at Emrys. The mental blast threw Emrys back to his own mind, allowing Harry to refocus. He knew it was useless to counterattack, the one time he had tried in a lesson Emrys had easily battered it to shreds. Carefully, Harry slowly repaired his shields as he waited for Emrys to attack again.

Harry dropped to his knees as Emrys attacked with multiple tendrils, shocking Harry's shields. Wincing, Harry valiantly tried to maintain his shields. It was to no avail and he felt his shields start to flicker. Harry went into his mind even further, digging down as he drew more power to maintain his shielding.

As he continued to dig into his mind he felt something hot. Unmindful, Harry went even further into his mind, barely conscious of his physical body. The feeling didn't go away however and Harry felt like he was burning. The feeling intensified until finally his mental ground gave away to fire.

The fire lashed out, exploding out of Harry's mental hole. Emanating from the center of his mind, waves of fire poured over Emrys's mental probe incinerating them and battering his shields. Harry felt concern and panic spill over Emrys's weakened shield.

Harry panically tried to stop the fire, concentrating as hard as he could Harry slowly shifted the ground closed, leaving a mental scar in his once smooth forest.

His eyes drooping, Harry fell back, collapsing in exhaustion.

~0o0~

Harry sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. It was once again time for potions. The past few class's Snape seemed to intentionally goad him, hoping for a response. Harry vehemently hoped this time would be different.

Harry walked into his sixth year potion class, setting down his potion ingredients. He sat down waiting for the potion and inevitable taunting the period would bring.

It had been a day since he had passed out during the practice session. Emrys had rushed Harry up to the hospital wing where Madam Pomfrey diagnosed Harry with magical and mental exhaustion, demanding to know what they had been up to.

Emrys had managed an excuse about dueling practice (which wasn't to far from the truth.)The healing witch had sternly lectured Emrys on proper care of a young wizard. Harry had found the whole thing hilarious.

Snape billowed into the classroom returning Harry's attention. Flicking his wand, the instructions for the day's potion appeared on the board.

"You will be making the Draft of Lux. It is an easy potion for those of a – competent mind." Snape said, shifting his eyes to Harry.

Harry narrowed his eyes at the man but said nothing. Sneering, Snape continued.

"The Draft of Lux provides helps wizards with darker effects such as the Dementor's Chill. You have one hour, begin."

Quickly looking up at the board Harry began to work. Filling up and lighting his Cauldron, he opened his book for more specific instructions. Although Snape outlined most potions on the board, it was recommended to also make use of the texts.

Harry began to crush the Roseray Beetles, collecting the juices from the silver blade that they used. Through all their potion class's Harry never fully understood why things reacted differently in the Magical world and not in the Muggle one. He knew that Muggles had a form of potion making called Chemistry but he had gone to Hogwarts long before Harry would have started to learn it.

Sometimes Harry wondered why the Wizarding World was so clueless of their non-magical counterparts. Most Wizards didn't even realize that Muggles had the capability of decimating an entire city with a push of a button.

Sighing, Harry continued to crush the beetles, slowly pouring in the juices. Harry grabbed the jar of Lilith-worms next to him. Prying it open, Harry reached for his stirring stick to start to add the worms.

" _Use a mix of the glow powder first."_ A voice seemed to echo behind him. Startled Harry quickly whirled around before looking back at his potion, hesitantly hovering over the Lilith-worms. _"Use a mix of Glow Powder and Worm. One to Two."_ The voice repeated, this time seeming to echo inside of his mind. Frowning Harry took a scoop of the Glow Powder and added it to the Lilith-Worms before starting to stir it in. Immediately the potion started to change. From before a sickly green color, the potion started to turn reddish-gold. Frowning Harry stirred the solution again rechecking the book. As he looked back he was alarmed to see that the potion was once again clear.

"What is this Potter." A cold and silky voice asked from behind him.

Harry inwardly sighed. He never could get a break. He turned around to look at Snape.

"The Draught of Lux Professor."

Snape stared at him for a moment before taking out a vial and scooping some of the potion up. Snape seemed to analyze the potion before storing it into his robes.

"This is a perfect potion Potter."

Harry stood still in absolute shock.

"I'm sorry Professor?"

Snape sneered at him.

"Obviously even a dunderhead like you has to get lucky sometimes."

He quickly swept past Harry leaving him in continued shock.

~0o0~

Merlin sat at his desk staring at the smoldering mess in front of him. He was at it yet again. After the long week and Harry's dream Merlin had decided to take up an old hobby. Messing with time.

Not many people knew it but Merlin had created the first Time-Turner way back in Camelot after Arthur's death. He had become obsessed, locking himself in his tower for days at a time before Gwen literally dragged him from it.

And now he was at it again. He had once down it to try to save Arthur, but now it was more of a fun hobby. Of course he hadn't done it in a few centuries ever since he had accidentally shifted the world a few hours into the future. That had been a bad day for him.

So was yesterday. He had a mental duel with Harry, something he thought helpful. Harry had done surprisingly well, right up until he had started to emanate fiery shockwaves that not only destroyed his mental probes, but had also damaged his shields!

Merlin was concerned about Harry. First a connection with Voldemort, now this! At least Merlin had an idea about Voldemort's connection, he had no idea what to make of this new development.

Merlin shook his head, sighing as he stood up and opened the door. Dumbledore had summoned him to his office for a meeting.

~0o0~

Reaching Dumbledore's office, Merlin swiftly knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Thank you Leon."

Merlin strode into the room, sitting comfortable in the chair across from Dumbledore's desk. He often imagined troublemakers being lectured here, admittedly he would have been one of them.

"How can I help you Headmaster?"

Dumbledore smiled as Merlin took a seat across from him. Leaning back he replied.

"It concerns Harry."

Merlin's face became slightly guarded. He knew Dumbledore's intentions were good at heart but he fell under the spell of trying to protect children too much.

"Ah?"

"Yes, I wish to lend my assistance in helping to train him."

Merlin's eyebrows shot up as he stood up and paced around the room. He was warmed that Dumbledore asked his permission first, as Harry's mentor. However, although Dumbledore was powerful and skilled, Merlin was more so.

"I think that I have his training covered, I don't believe there is much that you could teach him that I could not, No offence to you of course."

Dumbledore stared at him for a moment seeming to study him before nodding his head. Taking it as a dismissal. Merlin rose, turning to go.

"That is not all I wanted to discuss with you… Merlin."

Merlin froze. Slowly turning around he found Dumbledore calmly staring back at him.

"Excuse me?" Merlin croaked.

Dumbledore smiled before replying:

"Perhaps you should work on your reaction Merlin if you do not wish for others to know. I doubt I will be the only one to suspect who you really are."

Merlin fell back into the chair.

"How did you know?"

Dumbledore's eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement as he replied:

"There are very few people who could have lasted more than a minute against Voldemort. Of those people, only I can duel him to a standstill or beat him. There is no one alive with the amount of power to utterly humiliate him, much less block a Killing Curse, unless you count Mr. Potter of course."

"You knew." Merlin stated flatly. "You saw the whole duel."

Dumbledore nodded. "I arrived a few seconds after you saved Harry."

Merlin sat back digesting everything.

"So. What now?"

Dumbledore laughed.

"Now I sit in wonder in front of the greatest wizard who has ever lived, and have the privilege to tell him something he doesn't know."

Merlin frowned at Dumbledore's praise, but didn't comment.

"Which is?"

Dumbledores face became somber before leaning forward.

"What do you know- of Horcruxes?"

Merlin's eyes widened as an old memory overtook him.

 **[Flashback]**

 _Merlin sat on a log, looking up at the summer sun. It had been a few decades since Gwen had finally died and over a century since Arthur's death._

 _Merlin sadly watched as the sun slowly sunk towards the horizon. Sighing he stood and stretched. Suddenly he was flung into the dirt._

 _Quickly standing up, Merlin whirled around to face his adversary._

 _"Well, Well Merlin. I didn't expect you to be so careless"_

 _Merlin froze in shock as he faced his once dead enemy:_

 _Morgana._

 _"I killed you."_

 _Merlin stated as Morgana walked towards him._

 _Morgana laughed._

 _"You? Kill me? It's going to take much more than a sword to stop_ _me, Merlin."_

 **[End Flashback]**

"Merlin?" Dumbledore asked, concern written on his face.

"Sorry. My old enemy, Morgana was the one to create them."

Dumbledore's eyes shot up.

"Morgana Le Fey?"

"Pendragon."

"Fascinating!"

Merlin smiled.

"I suppose. Now why did you want to… Oh. Voldemort, that's how he survived isn't it?"

Dumbledore nodded sadly. Merlin sighed before going rigid again.

"Harry's connection." Merlin whispered.

Dumbledore closed his eyes and bowed his head.

"I'm afraid I know no way to extract it safely from Harry's scar. Unless…?"

Merlin sighed.

"I developed a spell to defeat Morgana. I tricked her by re-merging her Horcrux, she only had one. The downfall of the spell is that it requires you to have all working Horcruxes around the original soul."

Dumbledore nodded.

"So we need to gather all the Horcruxes, not destroy them."

Merlin shook his head.

"No, you only need all working Horcruxes, any you destroy you won't need any longer. So long as we destroy all of the Horcruxes not in Harry, he can cast the spell and merge his fragment with Voldemort."

"Why does Harry need to be the one to cast the spell?"

Dumbledore asked frowning.

"Last time I had to partially ingrain part of the Horcrux into myself in order for the spell to work. It's a little hard to do the same to a living person."

Dumbledore nodded again before narrowing his eyes slightly and leaning back.

"What is the problem?"

Merlin grinned.

"The problem." He said, his eyes flashing molten gold. "Is that he needs to learn Old Magic."

~0o0~

Harry slumped up against the wall of the Room of Requirements. Emrys had trained him rigorously. Harry had the feeling that something was bothering his teacher but he wasn't sure what. He had left it alone, he knew from personal experience that he hated it when people asked him what was bothering him.

"Good work today Harry" Emrys smiled.

"Thanks" Harry replied smiling weakily.

"Off to bed then?"

Harry laughed.

"I don't think I could last another round."

Emrys nodded before looking pointedly at him

"You know someday we'll have to duel when you're really tired. It's unfortunately unlikely that a battle will happen at a convenient time."

Harry sighed, rolling his eyes. Emrys had been pushing for a late night duel ever since he could last more than 2 seconds.

"I will. Just when I get better."

Emrys nodded then smirked.

"Off to bed then."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows before shaking his head, heading for the door. Before he reached it, he sensed an energy pulse coming at his back.

Whirling around, without thinking he nonverbally cast the shielding charm.

Emrys stood at the opposite of the room, a grin starting to form on his face.

"I did it." Harry whispered.

Emrys laughed and Harry happily nonverbally shot off fireworks.

"I told you! You just needed a little push."

Harry grinned pointing his wand at Emrys.

"You're getting your late night duel."

 **A/N:** Whew. I don't know why but this chapter was hard to write, Im still not completely happy with the Dumbledore/Merlin scene but after re-writing it a bunch I think it's the best I'm going to get it.

To Miss. Guest Reviewer: My apologies.

Anyway, I have an important announcement for anyone reading this story. I've had several different reviews concerning Ron and Hermione.

A warning to you, if you're big on Ron and Hermione interactions, I'm afraid you're going to be a bit disappointed, they will periodically appear in the story and cause some conflict for Harry, but they won't be in every chapter or anything like that. If you want to read a story like that: I suggest Ancient Relics, a great Merlin/Harry story.

Just thought I'd say that for anyone really looking for huge interactions with Ron and Hermione.

To everyone else, thank you for reading so far! I hope to actually get the next chapter out next week 0_o.


	8. Chapter 8

"Merlin." Dumbledore simply said as the legend walked into his office. He noted that as usual Merlin surveyed the room looking for any threats, not that he would find any.

Merlin smiled at him before walking over and sitting down at his usual chair by his desk.

"What did you want to discuss?" Merlin asked. Dumbledore smiled briefly, always directly to the point, he dare say that Merlin would, or did, not like the shuffling around of politics. Moving around some of the papers on his desk, Dumbledore sighed before saying:

"The last time we met, we discussed the method of Harry's problem without, causing him to – to–"

"To die." Merlin said, his gaze now sharply on Dumbledore's. No, definitely never a politician Dumbledore reaffirmed.

"Yes."

Merlin held Dumbledore's gaze for a few more seconds before briefly nodding and looking away.

"The last time we spoke, you said that in order for Harry to be healed, all living Horcruxes had to be in the possession of the caster."

"Yes." Merlin simply stated.

"Simply put, for what purpose? Why wouldn't you just destroy all the persons Horcruxes instead if you are already in possession of them?"

Merlin sighed.

"When you create a Horcrux, it is the most foulest and terrible magic you can do. Simply saying that you have to "murder" someone does not put it in perspective, the actual ritual is – disgusting." Merlin shivered slightly as if recalling a particularly bad memory. "You can of course 'put yourself back together' through remorse."

Dumbledore nodded, he had found that much when he first began to research the demented objects. He had originally hope there was some way to save his old student but eventually conceded that Voldemort would never regret his actions.

"My spell makes them whole again, it does not just destroy all of the Horcruxes but brings all the pieces of the soul together again."

Dumbledore looked up at that, a small flicker of hope escaping on his face.

"Albus, he can't be saved. I know how you feel, knowing someone and having to fight them, I know how it feels that you feel as if you were responsible for them turning away and if you had only tried just a little harder – But it matters not, what's done is done and Voldemort has been given enough chances in the past to repent for what he has done."

Dumbledore sighed leaning back into his chair and observing the man in front of him. Some of his words sounded far too experienced.

"Who did you fail Merlin?"

Merlin's face turned to stone instantly. He stared at Dumbledore and he briefly wondered if he would answer before Merlin leaned forward.

"I knew a girl. She was sweet and kind, and loved everyone she knew. She was the ward of a tyrant king who banned magic, slaughtering anyone who dared breathe its words in his halls. Soon she began to tire of him, until she discovered she had this magic too. Her exhaustion led to fear, which led to anger and hatred. She pleaded with me, begged me to tell her that she wasn't going crazy."

A single tear rolled down Merlin's face, splashing on the floor. The room was completely silent, not even any of the portraits made a sound.

"I turned her away. I told her that her dreams were simply dreams and her magic were merely coincidences. From her fear and hatred she started to plot the downfall of her guardian. She put the whole kingdom to sleep just to try to kill him. And I – I"

Merlin seemed to start to choke on his words, the grief still plain in his words after the many centuries.

"I poisoned her." He whispered. "I held her in my arms as her life started to fade away. And then – and then I traded her life away, as if it was nothing more than a bartering chip. And so she became our greatest enemy – one of _my_ greatest enemy's. And so I killed her. And she came back, so – I killed her again."

Merlin bowed his head further and silence filled the room again. Nothing seemed to move before Merlin looked up again, his eyes wandering around.

"Now – the past is the past, what I did is over with."

Dumbledore bowed his head, humbled to hear a part of the great man's life.

Sighing, Merlin sat back into his chair, staring off into the distance before furrowing his eyes.

"That wasn't here before."

Dumbledore frowned, turning slightly to see Merlin staring at a pedestal with a ring on it.

"Ah, yes I must have left it out. My mistake."

Merlin's eyebrows raised.

"Is that a Horcrux?"

"It was one, I destroyed it."

Merlin nodded before returning his gaze to him.

"What happened?"

Dumbledore gazed at the infernal stone that sat across from him. Ever since he had destroyed the Resurrection Stone it had seemed to stop working, not that he ever _was_ fully sure that it worked.

"I found its location, it was heavily trapped and warded, I almost made a mistake that almost cost my life, before your warning drifted through my mind, did you know?"

Days before Dumbledore had embarked on his journey, Merlin – then Leon to him had visited his office too simply state:

"Sometimes we let what we want most cloud our judgement" Merlin said. "I didn't know exactly what you were doing, but I guessed it was something of importance and I thought I'd share some advice with you, I certainly have learned that lesson hard enough."

Dumbledore nodded before hesitantly leaning forward slightly, this was the part of the meeting that he had been the most nervous about.

"I have a favor to ask of you."

Merlin's brow furrowed as he suspiciously looked at Dumbledore, no doubt used to people attempting to use him.

"I am the headmaster of this school, and although _some_ do not think so, I indeed have many duties to attend to, however the goal of finding and procuring Voldemort's Horcruxes is just as important to the fate of the Wizarding world."

"You want me to look for them instead." Merlin said, his eyes never wavering from his own. If Dumbledore didn't know any better, he would think Merlin was using Legilimency.

"I do. I am, if I may say, a very capable wizard, but you far exceed anyone and would easily be able to overpower and traps that Voldemort set, while I have already shown a tendency to fail."

Merlin nodded before asking,

"What about Defense?"

Dumbledore smiled. "I think I have a temporary solution that should work on the days you are gone."

Merlin nodded, trusting that Dumbledore wouldn't do something ridiculous.

"My only worry is Harry. You mentioned before that you needed to teach him your own – branch of magic. I assume that you will not be able to right away?"

Merlin shook his head.

"No, he just began to master non-verbal spells, he's going to be starting on wandless magic and nighttime duels soon."

Dumbledore's eyebrows raised.

"So soon? It's only been a few months since the beginning of term."

Merlin merely smiled, his eyes shining back, momentarily flickering gold and then back to remind Dumbledore of who he was. Nodding, Dumbledore smiled.

"Very well, I'll make sure he continues his training in your brief abscesses."

Merlin nodded asking:

"When will I leave?"

"In a few days, I have reason to believe that the next Horcrux may be – difficult to get to."

~0o0~

Harry cheerfully went through his classes of the day. Ever since he had cast the nonverbal shielding charm, Harry had felt like he was really making progress. Sure, every time Emrys and he dueled, he could feel himself getting better, but this was actual and physical (sort of) proof that he was progressing.

Throughout the day Harry had been nonverbally summoning things to him with glee, it really was quite amazing.

Harry was bumped out of his thoughts by his approaching friends. He smiled at the slightly guilty, he had been neglecting them both a bit since he had started training with Emrys.

"Hey guys!" Harry said, falling into stride next to them. Ron frowned at him.

"What has you all cheerful?"

"Ron!" Hermione said.

Harry laughed.

"I dunno, it's just a really good day, you know?"

Ron stared at him while they walked before shaking his head and muttering

"He's gone mental."

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled over at Harry.

"So what have you been occupied with lately?"

Harry frowned for a moment glancing over at her.

"What do you mean?"

"What she means, is who is it mate?"

Ron cut in.

"Who is who?"

Ron rolled his eyes.

"The girl!"

Harry stopped in the middle of the hallway gawking at Ron.

"Girl?!"

Ron and Hermione stopped and turned to look at him.

"Yeah mate, we figured it out a while back, you've been leaving the dorm at night frequently and sometimes don't get back to late, you haven't been hanging out with us nearly as much, you –"

"We weren't going to say anything but it's been over a month now and we – well we just agreed to see what you were going to say, we don't mind – we just wish you would, well, spend time with us again?" Hermione burst out.

Harry stared at both of them with his mouth open. He knew he had been neglecting his friends a little, but he didn't realize it had been THIS bad. Harry sighed and shook his head.

"Look, guys. There's no girl. I've just been – really busy."

Ron looked at him skeptically.

"There's a war on, Voldemort's back and everyone knows it, Sirius is _dead_ because I was an idiot –"

"Harry –"Hermione started.

"And you two think that I'm disappearing because of a GIRL?!"

"Then what are you doing!?"

Ron shouted, glaring at him as Hermione shuffled back a few feet. Harry stared at both of them in expatriation before slumping his shoulders.

"I'm sorry. Both of you, really I am. I know – I know that I've been a terrible friend lately, but I've just been having to – well work out things with myself on my own."

Ron took a few steps forward and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Look mate. I know that everything's been stressful lately and I am sorry about Sirius. But don't cut everything out of your life to just focus on what's coming, friends are important too."

Harry just nodded, wondering when his friend had started to gain his new found wisdom.

"Come on guys. We're going to be late for class."

Hermione spoke up.

Harry and Ron nodded at each other and turned to go to class. As they walked down the halls to DADA, Harry wondered just why he couldn't bring himself to tell his friends what he was doing.

~0o0~

Merlin walked to his class excited and nervous at the same time. He was making a special announcement that he hoped would give his class a better and deeper understanding of what dueling was like, of course nothing would really prepare them for an actual fight, but at least they would have some inkling.

He was nervous about talking to Harry. He was leaving in a few days and he didn't want Harry's training to suffer because of it. At the same time, he would miss helping him for the days he was absent. Although Merlin had taken on many apprentices in the past, Harry was one of his favorites. He had a temper, and sometimes looked at the world as only light or dark, good or evil but he had a good heart.

Merlin pushed open the door to his classroom and quickly walked to the front.

"Welcome back Class. Today we are going to be doing something a little – different. You all are 6th years and by now should have a decent grasp of how to hold yourself in a fight. Now then at the end of the year we will be holding an all-out tournament, the winner will be of course rewarded. In the meantime our class is going to turn very practical, most days we will be training together, and I will even pit you up against each other."

"How are we going to do fight in this classroom Professor? It isn't large enough." Hermione asked.

Merlin smiled, he always loved intelligent people. "Good question! For the past few weeks I have been restoring and expanding the old dueling hall. It has long been in disrepair, but today I am glad to show it to you all."

Excited chatter and whispers broke out between the classmates. Harry stared up at him with one eyebrow raised. Merlin merely shot him a grin before he made a mental note to talk to Harry.

"Right then! The Dueling Hall is right across from the Great Hall, it was previously hidden but it is accessible now at all times for anyone wanting to practice, except during class times of course, go head on down and I will meet you there."

The class slowly started to filter out of the room, but not before Merlin gave Harry a pointed look. The boy rolled his eyes but hung back from the rest of the group. From the corner of his eye he saw his friends frown at him before following the rest of the class.

"Don't hold yourself back Harry." Merlin said sternly as soon as everyone had cleared the classroom. Shock momentarily crossed Harry's face.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" He asked suspiciously.

Merlin chuckled and shook his head.

"After a few months of teaching you, I am fairly adept at reading your facial expressions."

Harry nodded before frowning.

"But won't I have an unfair advantage?"

Merlin shook his head.

"Do you think in a fight a Death Eater is going to stop because they have the advantage? No, they need to learn, and one of the best ways is to pit them against someone who is far better then everyone in the class."

Harry's face reddened and he ducked his head at the praise before nodding.

"One more thing Harry, I'm going to be absent for a few days, but don't worry, Dumbledore assures me that he has someone lined up to continue your training while I'm away."

Harry hesitated for a moment before tentatively asking.

"Do you know who sir?"

"I believe Dumbledore intends to continue your training."

Harry's eyes lit up slightly and Merlin smiled, happy to know his young apprentice wouldn't be too distraught with him leaving.

"Now then, we better head down before the students started hexing each other."

~0o0~

Harry stood on the other side of the ring from his first opponent, a Hufflepuff he didn't know. After the first dueling class, Merlin had combined all 6th year classes into one, making it easier to pair up. Of course now that meant the Slytherins were in his class as well.

As Harry waited for the rest of the students to be assigned a parenter, he looked around the giant hall. It was long and rectangular, with a peaked roof and a long dueling mat, designed to protect against any injuries. Like the Room of Requirements, Emrys had installed dueling runes, so that spell fire didn't accidentally hit anyone else.

"Ready" Emrys called, standing on a raised platform in the center of the room.

"Take positions."

Harry quickly fell into his usual loose stance, allowing him to easily roll and dodge. The Hufflepuff across from him nervously stepped back, warily eying him.

"Begin."

Instead of immediately attacking like most of the other students, Harry waited. The Hufflepuff, thinking he had the advantage yelled

"Stupefy!"

Harry raised his eyebrows at the common spell and easily dodged it. The boy frowned and yelled.

"Stupefy, Petrificus Totalus!"

Harry quickly realized exactly how far ahead he was from his classmates. He sidestepped the first spell, and quickly flung the second spell back at his opponent. The Hufflepuff squeaked and hastily raised a shield.

Harry raised his wand and shot a spell at the Hufflepuff who predictably tried to block the spell. To his surprise it curved around it and hit him, stunning the Hufflepuff and ending the duel.

Looking around he saw Emrys grin and give a nod before returning his gaze to the rest of the students. He was the first to finish.

As the duels quickly came to a close Emrys called out: "We still have some time left, are there any challenges?"

A brief silence filled the room before:

"I challenge Potter." A sneering voice said.

~0o0~

Harry coldly regarded his foe, Draco Malfoy. He confidentially stood across from Harry, a seemingly permeant sneer plastered on his face. A tremor of irritation flashed through him, before Harry closed his eyes and calmed his emotions before opening them again.

"Take Positions."

Harry slipped down into his familiar stance, Malfoy stepped forward and raised his wand. Neither fully registered the crowd of studnets cheering for one or the other.

"Begin."

Malfoy quickly whipped his wand upwards, muttering an incatation. Harry quickly ducked, noting that Malfoy still needed to speak the words, but didn't need to yell them like most students.

Grudgingly he gave his opponent a little respect before quickly returning fire, weaving around Malfoy's spells. His opponent was quickly on the defensive, erecting a shield in front of him to absorb Harry's spells, helping bolster his own shield. Harry grinned wickedly. There was a major flaw of the absorption shield, and he was about to painfully teach it to Malfoy.

He quickly slashed his wand, a giant energy whip flashed across Malfoys shield, causing it to break and emit a flash of light, throwing his opponent out of the ring.

"Now then Class, can anyone tell me what just happened?" Emrys asked, helping Malfoy back to his feet. He looked around at all of them before rolling his eyes at Harry. "Besides you Mr. Potter."

Harry smiled sheepishly before lowering his hand. Emrys surveyed the room once more before briefly nodding.

"The Absorption shield, cast by Mr. Malfoy is a double edged sword. It takes a decent amount out of you, but it sustains itself by absorbing your enemy's spells. Obviously it is not a perfect ratio, and the caster still needs to supply some energy. Now, knowing this can anyone guess what happened and why Malfoy's Shield exploded?"

Hermione's hand shot up.

"Yes Miss Granger?"

"Well, you said that the shield absorbs energy, obviously the energy wouldn't be used up immodestly – so instead it helps bolster the shield. Usually when a shield is broken the access energy would just flow back into the casters body, but since some of the energy isn't the casters, instead it would just explode?"

"20 points to Gryffindor Miss. Granger, a very good explanation indeed. Would anyone besides Miss. Granger, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter care to try to explain what caused the shield to break like that in the first place?"

Silence once again filled the room and Emrys rolled his eyes. "The problem with the Absorption shield is that it can only hold and absorb so much, Mr. Potter's energy whip was far too much energy for it to absorb at one time, so it shattered releasing all the energy it had stored up. Always remember, a spell or shield always has a counter."

"What about the killing curse?" A student called. Murmurings and agreements passed through the students. Emrys shook his head and sighed. He whipped out his wand and slashed upwards.

A stone pillar broke through the floor, earning several yelps from the group.

"The Killing Curse can easily be blocked by those who know how to use their environment."

Emrys slashed his wand again and a group of birds flew out of his wand, landing on top of the pillar.

"Creativity will save you in a fight. If the Killing Curse is fired at you, are you just going to sit there and die?"

The class once again was completely silent. Seemingly satisfied Emrys nodded his head.

"Class dismissed."

Harry hung back as the rest of his classmates filtered out of the hall. It had become a custom for him to hang back and talk to Emrys after.

"Fantastic Job." Emrys said grinning once everyone had left.

Harry nodded at the praise.

"Emrys?"

"Yep?"

"I know I'm supposed to be ahead and everything, but – I defeated Malfoy and the Hufflepuff without much effort. If I'm not ready to face a real enemy, how will they be?"

Emrys quirked his eyebrows.

"Do not asses your skills against a few students and fighting me Harry, I believe that you could easily take down a few Death Eaters. The rest of the students just need practice. I think they'll get there, especially with me as their teacher."

Harry rolled his eyes and Emrys laughed.

~0o0~

"Good luck Merlin."

Merlin smiled. It was finally time for him to be absent for a few days. In all truth he was still a little nervous on leaving the school for so long. Although he was confident in its defenses, he just felt happy knowing that it was intact.

"Thank you Albus. I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible."

Dumbledore nodded, concern heavily written on his face. Reaching inside his robe he handed Merlin a gem.

"Here's an emergency portkey. I made it myself."

Merlin's eyes sparkled a little. Although Merlin would be perfectly able to get out of almost any situation, the fact that Dumbledore had indeed entrusted him with something of his own creation showed some of the greatness of the man.

He nodded at Dumbledore before closing his eyes. Concentrating on, he Whirlwinded away, to the shock of the Headmaster.

~0o0~

Merlin stepped out onto the cobblestone paved street of Diagon Alley. Wizards and Witches bustled around him and he observed the shops for what felt like the millionth time. Humming to himself, he fixed his eyes on Gringotts.

Both Dumbledore and himself had agreed that as Voldemort had entrusted Lucius, one of his most loyal followers in the first war, with a Horcrux, then it stood to reason he would also give Bellatrix one. As most of her belongings had been scrapped, it stood to reason it was in her vault. The one place the Ministry was not allowed to intrude on.

There was of course, the small problem of getting into the vault. The Goblins were notorious for being untrusting of Wizards. As they wouldn't let the Ministry into Bellatrix's vault, it stood to reason they most likely wouldn't let him in either.

Merlin grinned to himself as he joined the crowd shuffling towards the giant bank. Breaking into Gringotts was no easy task for ordinary wizards. Luckily Merlin was anything but.

Stepping up the stairs, Merlin gently pushed the doors open. Inside there was a torrent of movement. He had intentionally picked the busiest time of the day to stage his break-in.

Gringotts operated by storing wealthier vaults lower down, thus adding more protections. The Lestrange Vault was unfortunately very far down. Guarded by a dragon and several Anti-Intruder measures as well as a waterfall to remove all concealments. Goblin Magic could indeed work feats that most modern magic could not.

Along with Goblin Magic, Merlin also had to watch for his kind of Magic. Although by the time Gringotts was founded and built, Ancient Magic still lingered in the background and he wouldn't be surprised if the Goblins had managed to get someone to work it into a defense measure.

"This is going to be fun." Merlin muttered to himself, looking around. There were several teller stations, each with a relatively long line. Goblins walked in and out of doors on each side, some seemed to carry packages with them, and others escorted customers to their vaults.

Each Customer was assigned two general goblins who memorized the exact locations of their vault. Then they were also given another goblin who handled investments, transactions and fees.

Of course, the location of each vault was recorded, in case of complications.

As Merlin walked down the steps, he drifted off into a corner and with a brief flash of gold, made himself invisible. In the old days, he would have been found out almost immediately. Luckily, even with modern Goblin magic, he was virtually undetectable.

Merlin sidestepped people and Goblins as he made his way to one particular door, The Records Room. Although he had never participated in building Gringotts like he had Hogwarts, he had managed to snag a copy of the plans for it way back when. Luckily the Wizarding World hated change and the building had mostly stayed the same.

Walking in past a Goblin carrying a stack of papers, Merlin momentarily paused in surprise. The room was huge, shelves of neat papers detailing everyday transaction lined the room and ornate archways led into adjoining rooms. On each arch a single letter was carved in gold.

Merlin smiled, at least it wasn't going to take another century to find what he was looking for. He strode down the hall still invisible until he came to an Arch with the letter L.

Turning into it, he found himself in a circular tower, seemingly spiraling up endlessly. Merlin slowly walked up the tower until he found himself in front of a case labeled "Lestrange". Bending down, Merlin started to search the case for traps.

Chuckling to himself, he disabled a well-hidden Color-Alarm spell. If someone besides a Goblin had opened the case, it would have set out a huge alarm, stunned the person and turned them irreversibly pink for a few days. Goblins had an interesting sense of humor indeed.

Merlin opened the doors to the case to find a stone tablet with a piece of paper clipped to it. He swiftly pulled the paper out, and picked up the tablet.

To Wizards, the paper was meaningless as it was written in Gobbledegook. The tablet however, was an extra security measure. Merlin closed his eyes and placed his hand on the tablet.

Images flew past his eyes as he absorbed the information inside the tablet of where and what was in the Lestrange Family Vault. Taking a deep breath, Merlin grinned and opened his eyes.

"We were right, the cups in there."

He quickly stuffed the tablet and paper back into the case, resealed the door and hastily made his way back down the tower. Narrowly avoiding a few goblins turning the corner, he made his way back to the doors leading to the main entrance.

Impatiently, he waited for the next goblins to come through, unfortunately the records room wasn't a highly visited place. As the doors swung open, he swiftly strode through them into the main lobby.

Darting around people, he calmly walked straight out of Gringotts. Making sure not to accidentally hit anyone while still invisible, Merlin sidestepped into a dark alley way. Taking a deep-breath, and closing his eyes, Merlin pictured the Vault's Location, and disappeared.

~0o0~

Merlin fell to his knees panting. Whirlwinding straight through all of Gringotts security measures without setting anything off was exhausting. Unfortunately he must of missed one of the security's as he was once again visible.

Uneasily, he started to stand before stumbling back. Standing in front of him was a giant white dragon staring directly at him with fire in its eyes. Smiling to himself, Merlin confidently rose.

"Μη φοβάσαι." He said.

The Dragon tilted its head before backing up, now curiously observing him. Long ago Dragons were capable of speech and great intellect. As the world moved on, they slowly devolved. Some of their intelligence had survived and Merlin found that he could indeed use his Dragonlord Abilities.

Quickly checking around him for more traps and finding none, Merlin strode up to the vault door in front of him. The Dragon started to growl and move towards him.

"Είμαι φίλος. Μην επίθεση." Merlin said raising his hand. The Dragon bowed its head and retreated. Narrowing his eyes Merlin sighed. He hated to leave the poor dragon like this, but he knew if he released it the Goblins would pursue it to no end.

He raised his hand again and his eyes flashed. The Dragon reared back before slowly slinking down into a slumber. When it woke it would find all of its injury's and pains gone.

Nodding his head and returning his attention to the vault, Merlin studied the intricate lock on the door. Older vaults often had more complex and harder to break through doors. Very few modern wizards would be able to even attempt to get through an ancient vault.

Smirking to himself, he stood back and raised his hand once more. Luckily for him, he wasn't a modern wizard. Snapping his fingers, a flash of gold spark emitted from the door before it slowly creaked open.

"Ha!" Merlin said in triumphant. Walking in to the Vault Merlin was astonished with the contents. Creature's he had rarely seen lay dead and skinned along the walls. Gold was piled up from the floor to the ceiling and priceless artifacts lay on top of other piles. He surveyed the room before sighing in relief. There atop of one of the gold piles lay the cup. Snapping his fingers again to remove any traps, He strode over to the cup and slowly picked it up.

Immediately he realized his mistake as he felt a magical trigger activate on the cup. He had sensed and dispelled the cup for any modern magic. But he didn't account for his kind of magic. Which only meant -.

"Hello Merlin." A frigid voice drawled behind him. "Getting rusty in your old age I see."

~0o0~

Dumbledore sighed as he once again sent off another Owl to the Ministry. Sometimes it became a little troublesome to deal with the Government. Relaxing back into his chair, he picked up the next stack of letters and began working again.

Shortly thereafter another Owl pecked as his windows and he groaned. Waving his wand, he opened the window for the incessant bird. Picking up the letter it dropped, he opened it to find yet another meeting he could under no circumstances miss.

Sighing he leaned back and closed his eyes. He was getting far to old for this. Suddenly he bolted forward. Grabbing his schedule he quickly flipped through it to find his worst fear.

Quickly he rose and strode over to his fireplace, composing himself, he used the floo to quickly travel down the castle. Unfortunately there was only one choice he had left right now, and he knew it wasn't going to be liked by anyone.

Rapping on the door in front of him, he stood back as it slowly creaked open revealing the potions lab inside.

"Severus. I need your help."

A/N: Welllllll, I learned to not make promises or guesses when the next chapter is coming out. Yeah – I'm a little late, but hey this time it was roughly 2 and half chapters of what I usually write. I tried to keep a theme of adding more detail to bring the story to life a little bit more and I hope I succeeded. For anyone wondering, No just because I added the little Ron and Hermione scene does NOT mean they're going to be having a large role after all, it's just very unrealistic for Harry to randomly stop talking to his friend all of a sudden. Anyway, thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a great day!


	9. Chapter 9

" _Hello Merlin." A frigid voice drawled behind him. "Getting rusty in your old age I see."_

Merlin sighed before turning around.

"Mordred."

The man in question grinned back at him, his icy blue eyes seeming to slightly flash.

"Surprised to see me?"

Merlin smiled and with a flick of his hand, leaned up against a gold pile.

"Not particularly."

Mordred frowned at him, obviously expecting his presence to cause a more dramatic effect.

"So what's your plan exactly then Mordred? You and I both know that you have no hope of beating me."

Mordred grinned and held out his hand.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that."

Quicker then what seemed possible, he jerked his hand forward and his eyes flashed blood red. A blast of dark energy leaped across the room into Merlin's already erected shield, dissipating without a noise. Faking a yawn Merlin nonchalantly waved his hand and Mordred was thrown out of the vault, crashing into a cave wall.

"You still have a lot to learn if you think simple 'dark magic' tricks will work against me."

Mordred uneasily climbed to his feet, seeming a little less sure of himself. His face hardened however as he held his hands up.

Merlin strode out of the vault confidently, sending a blast of lightning at Mordred, who quickly reflected it into the cave wall. Merlin waved his hand again and the cave walls seemed to shimmer of light before it flickered fading back to stone.

"Ha! It seems the 'all mighty Emrys' isn't so infallible after all!" Mordred taunted, sending several spells back at Merlin.

Merlin reflected each spell directly into the walls, and returned with a few blasts of lightning. Mordred held out his hand, a sharp whip of dark energy lashed at Merlin who caught it and with a flash of gold eyes, flung Mordred away.

"How did you survive?" Merlin called as he advanced on Mordred, both continuing to exchange spells. "Another Horcrux like Morgana?"

Mordred laughed as he conjured poison daggers, throwing them straight for Merlin.

"She never would have shared that secret with me, you and I both know she was far to deranged."

Merlin raised his hand and all of the daggers stopped, before he transfigured them into small sharp rocks and threw them back.

"Then how?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Merlin raised his eyebrow as he thrust out his hand again, a stone spike rose from the floor and shot towards Mordred.

"A little, but it doesn't really matter."

Mordred quickly raised a barrier but the stone spike shattered through it, impaling him through the heart. His eyes bulged and his mouth fell open. He teetered back and forth before falling onto his knees. Mordred gasped for air as blood slowly seeped out of his wounds.

Merlin calmly walked over to him and sighed, his eyes heavy.

"I'm truly sorry Mordred. I didn't want it to come to this."

Mordred looked up at Merlin with confusion in his eyes before slumping forwards.

Kneeling next to his fallen enemy, Merlin bowed his head as the light slowly went out in Mordred's eyes.

"That's quite alright Emrys."

Merlin whipped around and was thrown back as he was struck by a very large lightning bolt.

Seemingly out of the shadows, Mordred slowly walked forward laughing. Merlin groaned against the wall as he slowly got to his feet.

"I'm going to feel that one in the morning"

Quickly glancing at the now fading corpse of 'Mordred', Merlin confirmed that it was indeed an illusion.

"Illusion Magic huh?"

Mordred smirked as he threw a dark bolt at Merlin.

"Really Mordred, when did you start using dark energy so much?"

"Right around when you abandoned me _Emrys_." Mordred retorted. "I never understood you Merlin, you were supposed to bring balance back to our land, to stop Magical Prosecution, all you ever did was stand by the side of your 'King' as he slaughtered our kind."

At that Mordred threw another lightning bolt at Merlin, who seemingly barely deflected it.

"Seems as if someone is starting to get a little weak hmm?" Mordred sneered as he blasted Merlin with bolts of pure dark energy, Merlin stumbled and fell to the ground as Mordred started to advance.

"Look at you Emrys, Pathetic, it wasn't even hard to defeat 'The Almighty Warlock', this time around I win Merlin, remember who defeated you." Mordred spat, holding out his hand as dark tendrils started to wrap around it, coiling around his arm.

Merlin suddenly grinned.

"Always so arrogant Mordred." Merlin said, thrusting his hand upwards. Immediately the cave started to glow once again and tendrils of energy lashed out, snaring Mordred in a web of light.

Merlin climbed to his feet grinning and started to pace in front of his trapped foe.

"Every spell we cast is fueling this thing" Merlin hummed. "It's quite ingenious if I do say. You see, it forces a wizards magic to defend itself against the onslaught of energy until you completely exhaust your reserves."

Electricity arced up Mordred's body as he struggled to fight his own magic from depleting itself. Suddenly the cave stopped glowing and Mordred was abruptly dropped in a heap on the ground.

"I'm afraid that also means you cannot apparate, teleport or whirlwind out, in essence you are stuck."

Mordred growled as he pulled out a chain from inside his robes.

"Guess – you forgot – about – Portkeys." He said coughing before activating the Portkey on his chain and disappearing.

"Not particularly." Merlin said to thin air grinning. "I just forgot to tell you about the tracking charm."

~0o0~

Harry walked into the Room of Requirements wondering who was going to fill in for Emrys. In Defense Class, an auror had filled in, but he had immediately left right after the class, indicating he wasn't going to be the one teaching him. He had to admit, he was a little bit nervous to be taught by someone other than Emrys.

Harry sauntered over to his usual spot in the library. He wasn't really sure how, but Emrys had locked the room so that only Harry or himself could be the one to open it. Harry was slightly worried that it would restrict the person coming to train him. Looking at the clock on the wall he sighed. He still had another five minutes.

Pulling out a chair, Harry picked up one of his new favorite defense books. Although he doubted he would beat Emrys with any of the spells in it, it could come in handy in the middle of a duel. Settling himself down he began to read.

As he finished the chapter, the doors banged open. And Harry froze as a sneering voice called.

"Mr. Potter?"

 _Of course. It had to be him_. Harry thought.

"Here Professor." Harry said, standing up and setting his book back down on the table and turning to face Professor Snape.

"Attempting to read Potter?" Snape sneered. Fury bubbled inside Harry but he quickly composed himself and remained expressionless.

"What are we going to be doing today Professor?" Harry asked politely.

Snape narrowed his eyes at him before stalking over to the dueling ring a pulling out his wand.

"Since the Headmaster has decided to _gift_ me with your presence in the recent absence of your dear Defense Professor, I will be assessing your skills and working from there."

Harry immediately knew with a sinking feeling that nothing he would do was going to be good enough for the man.

"Yes sir." He said dejectedly, preparing himself for the worst. Snape observed him with narrowed eyes for a few moments before swishing over to the dueling ring.

"Come now Potter, we don't have all day. Show me your 'exceptionally skills'" Snape sneered as he took one side of the ring. Harry merely seethed as he stepped into the other side.

" _We will destroy him_ " The Voice echoed once more in his head. Harry's eyes widened as he drew his wand. _Who are you?_ Harry thought. A grumbling laugh seemed to bounce around his mind before fading.

"Stance." Snape called out, flicking his wand forward. Harry nodded as he dropped into his familiar dueling form.

"Begin."

Harry immediately dogged the spell, smirking to himself as a plan formulated in his mind.

"Stupefy" Harry yelled, barely managing to hold back a grimace.

Snape snorted and deflected the spell, sending back a barrage of spell-fire.

"Protego" Harry formed a shield around him, seeming to strain himself as each spell punched into his shield.

"It seems as if your _grandeur_ at the latest Defense class has been greatly exaggerated Potter."

Harry held back a snarl before starting to roll out of the way of another spell. _Time to kick it up a notch._ Harry thought. As he rolled back to his feet Harry flicked his wand, a lash of pure fire hitting Snape's hastily erected shield. The man looked at him in shock before narrowing his eyes. Harry grinned at him before taking advantage of the temporary lull in the battle to fire off a few "Harmless" Spells.

 _Always take advantage of the battlefield._ Merlin had told him.

~0o0~

Severus narrowed his eyes at Potter, his shield half made in front of him. The boy had been cocky and arrogant as he had expected, but never had it crossed his mind that he would be able to do anything more than the standard sixth year spells.

And then Potter had gone and wordlessly flicked a whip of fire at him. He had of course heard from his Snakes how Potter had vastly improved, but he had dismissed it as the usual Hero Worship. Even his Slytherins weren't impervious to it.

Clearing his mind, Severus reacted to the spells Potter haphazardly threw at him, blocking most of them and watching as some of the spells fell short with some amusement. He could at least take comfort that the boy still needed work on something as basic as _aiming_.

Severus flicked his wand, increasing the tempo of the duel slightly as he whirled forward, throwing light spells and a few slightly dangerous ones in, causing Potter to dance back and forth, and barely having any time to send back spells.

He refrained from using any of his invented spells, as many could cause lasting damage, even if the idea was tempting sometimes. Smirking as Potter was struck in the shoulder by a mild pain spell, Severus started to advance before hearing a small pop underneath him.

He was thrown back, skidding to the edge of the dueling ring, his foot resting against the shimmering spell barrier. Grunting he quickly deflected a spell from Potter.

 _He trapped the floor._ Severus thought, realizing that Potters 'bad aim' was intentional. _Fine._ He thought. _If he wants to play it that way._

Pointing his wand straight down Severus murmured,

" _Vaporem Fumi_ "

Black smoke billowed from his wand, skidding across the floor towards his adversary, who widened his eyes and hastily cast a shield against the smoke.

Severus smirked as it billowed around Potters shield, wrapping around his arms and legs. Dropping his wand to his side, he slowly walked towards him.

"You fought well. I – apologize for my assumptions."

Shock flashed across Potters face as stopped struggling against the smoke.

"The duel isn't over Professor."

Severus let a brief smile flicker across his face before raising his wand.

"I'm afraid it is."

A bright blue light pulsed from his wand, striking Potter in the chest and throwing him out of the smoke, and the ring. The shield fell away from the runes and Severus stepped over them, walking towards his temporary student.

He regarded Potter warily, contemplating the boy. At first he had acted predictably, as if he had known exactly how Severus expected him to act and had used it to his advantage.

"Very Slytherin of you Mr. Potter, placing traps on the dueling ring." He said simply.

The boy grinned as he sat down in the chair he was in when Severus had entered the room. "You know, the sorting hat did tell me I would be better suited for Slytherin than Gryffindor."

Severus raised an eyebrow. It seemed the golden boy wasn't so golden after all.

"Are we done for this lesson Professor?" Potter asked. Severus eyed him over a few times before realizing that the boy was barely winded.

"No." He said. "Get back up."

Potter set down the book that he had picked up and nodded, following Snape back to the dueling ring.

"You seem proficient in non-verbal spells and strategy, however neither will let you beat the Dark Lord." Severus said as he stowed away his wand.

"Now, fire a non-lethal spell at me."

Potter gave him a strange look before nodding.

~0o0~

Harry gave Snape a puzzled look before swishing his wand upwards, the bright red jet of Stupefy flying towards his Professor.

Snape swiftly brought his hand up, a cool blue shield shimmering in front of it.

Harry's eyes widened as his spell struck Snape's shield, he hadn't realized that Snape could use wandless magic.

"You want to teach me wandless magic."

Snape briefly smirked before replying.

"I doubt I will be able to teach it to you in one secession Potter, surely even someone of your.. Intelligence can understand. "

Harry chuckled silently, in all honesty, Snape's humor was rather amusing.

"Now, stow away your wand."

Harry nodded, setting his wand aside as he raised his hand. Snape strode over to the other side of him, raising his hand.

"Imagine the magic coming from you to create a shield, but this time instead of using your wand, use your hand only."

Harry let out a deep breath before nodding once more.

~0o0~

Harry groaned as Snape pulled him up once again.

"I think that is enough stunning my student for one night Professor." A voice called across from the room.

Harry jumped to his feet, as his mentor strode into the room, his customary grin across his face.

"Professor Emrys." Snape said chillingly.

"Severus" Emrys replied, causing the potions master to glower.

"I will bid you farwell." Snape said, starting to billow out of the room, much like the smoke he conjured Harry noted.

"How did Harry do" Emrys called, causing the other man to stop before uttering:

"Better than I imagined."

Emrys smiled as Snape banged the door behind him.

"So then, how did your 'secret mission' go?" Harry asked.

Emrys gave him a surprised look before replying.

"How did you know?"

Harry merely grinned at him, sitting back into his customary chair. Emrys sighed and rolled his eyes, sending him a playful grin.

"It went well. I should be checking in with Dumbledore but I thought I'd come in and check on you first. Why did it look like Snape was pounding you into the ground?"

Harry laughed.

"He was trying to teach me wandless magic.

Emrys raised his eyebrows.

"And how well did that go."

Harry sighed, wincing at the thought of it.

"Well – I think I managed to make a really, really weak shield, but other than that, terrible. "

Emrys nodded, sitting in the chair opposite of Harry,.

"Well, I was actually planning on making that your next lesson, however I have a different –"

"Way of doing it." Harry said, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

Emrys glared at him.

~0o0~

"The Horcrux is destroyed." Merlin said, walking into Dumbledore's office.

"Good work!" Dumbledore said. "Any complications?"

Merlin sighed, sitting heavily into the chair across from Dumbledore's desk. He had told the man of some of his past, but he really did not want to drag up even more of it. He had settled the matter long ago.

"Unfortunately my past refuses to stay there. Mordred was there today."

Dumbledore stared at him for a few seconds before saying,

"As in the Mordred born between Arthur and Morgana? "

Merlin looked at him for a few seconds before he started to chuckle. His chuckle turned into a full blown laugh as he imagined Arthurs face if he were to ever be asked that.

"I assume not." Dumbledore said.

Wiping a tear from his eye, Merlin chuckled again before regaining his composure.

"Mordred was druid, he was born long before Morgana or Arthur were enemies. He was another one of my mistakes. Sometimes I honestly think that I drove him to join Morgana. In any case, he will be out for the count for several days."

"Do you think he is working with Voldemort?"

Merlin sighed, yet another complication.

"He seemed to hint as much."

Dumbledore nodded again.

"I am afraid that I will not be much use against him, I assume he wields the same type of power that you can?"

Merlin nodded, wondering where Dumbledore was going with his train of thought.

"Is there any way for modern wizards to combat this?"

Merlin contemplated the question for a moment before shrugging.

"Theoretically, you could beat him, Ancient Magic reacts to Modern Magic, it is just far more powerful, but no I don't believe there's any cheat sheets to beating someone using it. I'm sure your wand will help."

Dumbledore's eyes widened. "W-what?"

Merlin leaned forward and grinned at him. "I understand why you didn't tell me, but you really didn't think I knew you had two of the three Hallows?"

"How much do you know of them?"

Merlin laughed. "How much do I know, my apprentices created them!"

* * *

"We have the calculations correct Merlin, do not worry." Antioch told him, stepping away from a large leather bound book.

"You are trying something even I have never attempted, of course I will worry." Merlin replied pacing back and forth across a stone floor.

"And yet you have helped us with half of the research and construction Merlin, if this works, you will be as much credited to this as we are." Cadmus replied.

Merlin gazed around the chamber once more, mentally making sure everything was correct. They were inside a giant stone room with a platform in the center, a golden ring stood atop it, runes carved over every space. Altars surrounded the platform, gems and herbs adorned them all.

"Are we all ready?" Ignotus asked.

"We Peverell brothers are always ready" Cadmus joked.

"You will tire of the joke one day Cadmus." Merlin said rolling his eyes.

"I doubt it." Antioch said. "In any case, were ready as we will ever be, come brothers, place your objects."

"Here we go." Ignotus said. "You're first Antioch."

The brother nodded as he strode up to the golden gate, drawing a stick of carved wood from his pack.

"First a stick made of elder, for the elder, full of power, may the owner never lose a duel, and may the elder switch its allegiance to those who are better fitted to wield it, and send all others to their death."

Antioch placed the elder stick onto a pedestal and motioned for Cadmus who approached the gate, drawing a black stone carved with their family seal in the center.

"Next,comes the stone of death itself, May it be used to draw wisdom to those long past, drawing from the fickle death."

Cadmus placed the black stone upon a pedestal before motioning for Ignotus who approached the gate, drawing a grey cloak stitched with runes.

"Lastly, comes a cloak to hide the wearer from all troubles, no spell or curse can follow it, and may it protect its user, even from death."

Ignotus placed the cloak on a pedestal and walked down to his two brothers, motioning for Merlin who stepped up to the golden gate.

"I – Merlin Emrys, the keeper of the Old Religion, and the balancer of The Cup, do seal this deal between Life and Death." Merlin placed his palm on top of the Golden Gate, allowing his magic to flow through ti before stepping back as it activated.

The gate started to swirl, pulling the objects on the altars closer to it. As it span faster and faster, a glow started to pulse from inside it. Pure beams of magic shot from the center of it, striking the stone building around the four men and turning pieces of it to ash.

"Get back." Merlin ordered as the gate started to rock back and forth, the light becoming brighter and brighter.

"What in the world." Ignotus whispered.

Merlin looked up to see the gate hovering in mid-air, with the energy seemingly frozen inside it.

"It's as if time stopped." Cadmus said.

Merlin's eyes widened as a realization struck him.

"Get down" He yelled.

Suddenly the gate exploded, pure magic engulfed them as chunks of stone and altar offerings were thrown everywhere.

"Everyone alright?" Merlin called, protected by a shield of his own.

"Yes" Cadmus and Antioch said, tiredly getting up off the floor.

Merlin waved his hand, clearing the dust from the room to look for Ignotus.

"I'm fine" A voice wheezed from behind him.

"Ignotus!" He exclaimed, whirling around to find his apprentice stumbling to his feet.

"What happened to the gate?" Antioch asked

"I think it was blown to pieces by the magic." Merlin said.

"So our experiment failed." Ignotus said, disappointment lacing his voice.

"Actually, I don't believe it did." Cadmus called from the center of the room.

* * *

"You helped create the Hallows?" Dumbledore said in disbelief.

"That I did. Funny fact, our experiment created something else, a portal between the living world and the dead one. I believe it is currently locked in the ministry, The Veil I think it's called."

Dumbledore rested his head in his hands before looking up again.

"I believe I'm going to need some time to process everything you have relayed to me Merlin."

Merlin nodded, it was one thing to find out that he was in fact a powerful warlock from centuries ago, and another to know that he had helped created the wand resting in Dumbledore's hand.

"Very well, I will take my leave and see you tomorrow."

 **A/N:**

Another Chapter finished, I actually quite like this one, I wasn't planning on adding the flashback, (In case of any confusion yes that was indeed a flashback.), It just kinda wrote itself into the story. But anyway ladies and gentleman, thank you for reading, leave a review to let me know how I'm doing, they're always appreciated and I enjoy reading them.


	10. Chapter 10

The Elder Wand. It had been in Dumbledore's possession ever since he had taken it from his lo – friend's broken body. It and the other two Hallows had haunted him since his childhood. His sister had died over the squabbles for it. And Merlin had helped create them, had taught the men in the legends he knew so well.

Dumbledore had known that Merlin was very old, over a Millennium old he had assumed. But – to know that he had helped create the objects that Dumbledore had chased, to know that Merlin had helped spawn other Myths and Legends besides his own was – grounding.

Merlin had been a godsend to him. He was just trying to muddle around, making best of the situation he had. Perhaps he hadn't always made the best choices with Harry, but he had tried his best.

Dumbledore had known ever since he held the boy in his arms what he contained in his scar. He had remained calm for Minerva and Hagrid on the night he dropped Harry off on his Aunt and Uncles doorstep, but he had frantically checked and double-checked every source of information he could. Every result was the same: Making a human into a Horcrux should have been impossible, and therefore there was no cure for Harry.

Dumbledore's hope had slowly dwindled to ashes as the years rushed by and Harry finally had arrived at Hogwarts. He had long abandoned any texts and had theories of his own.

The Killing Curse killed someone by severing their soul from their body. Theoretically, the same principal should happen if Harry was struck by it, but instead of severing his soul it would sever the Horcrux. He wasn't very happy with an unlikely theory to save Harry from his certain doom.

And then the battle at the Ministry had happened and he met Merlin. Of course at the time he had no idea who he was, but as the year stretched on he slowly suspected. Then finally Merlin had shown him a way out. A way to save Harry without having to kill him. For once in the past few decades of his life, Dumbledore felt a weight fall off his shoulders.

"Dumbledore?" Merlin said.

He jerked in his seat, looking across from him to see Merlin sitting in his usual spot. Dumbledore was lucky it wasn't an enemy that had snuck in.

"What can I do for you?" Dumbledore asked.

Merlin smiled briefly.

"I thought you might be curious."

"Of?" Dumbledore inquired.

"Of the objects that consumed your life for so many years and what they can really do. The things behind the legend as the muggles say."

Dumbledore twirled the Elder Wand in his hands once more before looking down at it. He had always wondered what exactly the wand was capable of. It was able to flow magic easier and quicker than his old wand, but besides the previously mentioned he didn't know its ability's.

"Last time you mentioned that I would be better equipped against Old Magic sorcerers because of this wand. Why?"

Merlin scratched his head for a moment as if trying to recall a particular memory.

"The wand itself is unique. It is one of the only objects in the world that can channel old magic through it, and with relative ease. It also has the inherent ability to strengthen the wielder's defenses against it."

Dumbledore perked up. Perhaps he wouldn't be so defenseless after all.

"The rest of its powers are only unlocked when the Master of Death wields it."

"I believed the Master of Death was whoever held all three Hallows at once. Forgive me for asking, but I have done so and to my honest disappointment, nothing happened."

Merlin nodded as if expecting the question.

"The Three Brothers made sure only their Heir could become the Master of Death."

Dumbledore's eyes widened at the implication.

"So that means..."

Merlin's eyes twinkled as he nodded.

"My God. That boy is either the luckiest or unluckiest person I have ever known."

Merlin laughed in agreement.

"So, what happens when they are all combined into one?"

Merlin softly smiled, a seemingly understanding look in his eyes.

"Sorry, I swore long ago only to reveal its true powers only to the Master of Death."

Dumbledore sighed. He had hoped to finally get some answers on what the damn thing was and what they could do. Alas, it wasn't for him to find out.

"Should I give the remaining two Hallows to Harry then?"

Merlin shook his head.

"The Master of Death must earn and prove his worth for the Hallows. He has used the Cloak many times and it considers him worthy, in due time circumstances may come around where they fall into his hands. Or perhaps not. Perhaps his children will become the Master of Death."

With that chilling thought, Dumbledore steered the question back to the Horcruxes.

"In any case, we should return to the task at hand. I believe the next Horcrux is – relatively high up."

~0o0~

Harry blearily stumbled down the long corridors of Hogwarts towards the Room of Requirements for his next training session. Ever since his last training session, he had felt relatively ill. Taking a deep breath he stumbled down the hall, leaning heavily against the wall.

Finally, he fell to the floor in exhaustion, his back resting against the wall as he caught his breath. Harry managed to pull himself up once again before descending into a fit of coughs.

Harry's eyes widened as he felt a searing pain in his throat before he coughed again. This time, a bolt of flame leaped out of his throat, striking the wall opposite of him.

"What the Hell?" Harry muttered, starting to freak out.

Suddenly he winced and fell to his knees again.

" _Hello, young Wizard._ " The Voice suddenly said, its rolling tone bouncing off the inside of his mind. " _I apologize for the uncomfortable circumstances_."

 _Who are you!_ Harry forcefully thought, tired and angry at the voice that had plagued him for weeks.

" _All in due time young wizard. We do not have long to speak. Tell the Warlock Emrys that you must learn your second form before anything else._ _It is vital that you know how."_

Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously. _How do I know you're not Voldemort?_

A deep chuckle resonated around his mind before it replied.

" _Trust your instincts Young Wizard_. _You and the Warlock are destined for great things together. Tell him that the time to reveal his greatest secret is coming closer."_

~0o0~

Merlin stared at Harry with a bemused expression.

"And it told you that you needed to learn your animagus form."

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"It said my second form, and as far as I know that's probably what it meant."

Merlin nodded slowly, a little unsure on what to do. He had never had a student be told to learn his animagus form by a voice inside their head. He was concerned for Harry. He believed him to be in complete mental health, having scanned him shortly after had told him what had happened.

"Did it say anything else?"

Harry thought for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah. It said it was almost time for you to reveal your greatest secret."

Merlin froze in shock. What in the world was this thing and how did it know who he was? In all his years he had never heard of this happening.

"Well. I suppose the most reckless thing would be to do what it asks. We have no clue what it wants"

Harry nodded, disappointment in his eyes.

"Yeah." He sighed.

Merlin started to stride out of the room before turning back.

"Are you coming?"

Harry looked up, confusion evident in his eyes.

"Where are we going?" He asked, trotting after Merlin.

Merlin turned around and grinned at Harry.

"Why, to do the most reckless thing we can. Learn your Animagus form."

A/N: Over a hundred reviews! Wow. I am honestly astounded. I know it might not seem like much but to me, it really seems inconceivable. Thank you all so much.

Anyway, I apologize for the short chapter but I thought this was a good end point, I kinda feel like its a little bit of a let down after the last chapter as a lot of people seemed to really like it. Next chapter I hope to be a good one as we finally discover who or what the voice is and what Harry's Animagus form is. I'm going on a weeklong Vacation, so when I get back hopefully I will be ready to write. Have a good day, and I hoped you all enjoyed.


	11. Chapter 11

Harry followed his mentor back into the Room of Requirements.

"Why did we leave to just come back – oh." Harry said, his eyes widening as he surveyed the room.

The Room of Requirements was no longer really a room. Pale blue sky opened up above him, and rolling green hills surrounded him in every direction, forming a valley in which a small pond quaintly sat.

"Wow, this is _amazing_!" Harry said.

"Thanks!" Emrys said happily. "Normally something like this isn't possible, but –"he shrugged. "It's me."

Harry's smile slowly slipped off his face as Emrys trotted towards the pond. Ever since he had met Emrys, his mentor had done things he never knew were possible. At first he had assumed it was due to his inexperience, but after researching several things, such as wandless magic, he had realized that the things Emrys did were claimed to be impossible.

In reality Harry knew very little about his friend. Emrys looked around 25ish, and displayed magical knowledge that no one, not even Dumbledore seemed to know. He hadn't gone to Hogwarts, at least not under the name Leon, and searching many records, he concluded no one knew him, even though he had a British accent. It was if his friend has simply popped out of nowhere.

~0o0~

Merlin led Harry to the lake, unaware of his apprentice's suspicions.

"Not that I mind the change of scenery but why did we move out of our regular dueling room?" Harry asked.

"We don't know what your form is, it could be a flobbyworm, or it could be a hippogriff. Better to give you plenty of space to practice with." Merlin replied.

Harry nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"So how does this work?"

Merlin smiled, if anything else Harry was almost always to the point. Much like him in fact.

"Your animagus form can actually be several different things. It doesn't direct correlation to your personality, although it does have some effect. It can change based on the situation, but after you have shifted the first time, you're current animagus form is permanent and no longer changes. Understand?"

Harry nodded before asking:  
"So how do I actually change into my form?"

"Sit and face the lake."

Harry raised his eyebrows before sitting cross-legged.

"Close your eyes and enter your mind, somewhere is a gate or a door. Behind it is your form. Once you open the door you will instinctively transform, after that it is merely a method of taping into your instincts, which can be admittedly tricky the first few times. The door can be in a memory, a corridor or even deep into your mind."

Harry narrowed his eyes.

"Is this the way everyone does it?"

Merlin laughed.

"No, this method usually takes a few weeks if not a month to master, usual methods take up to a year."

Harry nodded before starting to close his eyes.

"Anything else I should know?"

Merlin hesitated.

"Be careful. You might have to go through some bad memories. The mind is a funny thing, it can conjure up some disturbing things to keep everything, including you, out of certain areas."

Harry warily looked at him before sighing.

"Wish me luck then."

Then, he slowly closed his eyes.

~0o0~

Harry opened his eyes, feeling lush grass against his face. He climbed to his feet and surveyed the area. Trees surrounded him, their leaves sparking with memories, vines acted as conduits and pulsed as it transmitted his thoughts. Looking down he saw flora and grass. He brushed into a tulip and watched a memory play across its petals, his first visit to Hogwarts.

Harry looked around for a door but found nothing but the familiar trees.

"Of course it wouldn't be that easy." He sighed to himself. "Nothing to do but go forward."

Harry started to walk into the forest of his memories, looking for the door. He noticed that as he walked, the forest became thicker and darker. Some of the vines seemed to wilt towards a particular section of the forest. Frowning, Harry changed his course, and walked into the darker shadows.

As Harry walked, he heard footsteps behind him. Whirling around, he found no one. Remembering Emrys's words of some areas being restricted, Harry decided to trudge on regardless.

The Forest became darker still, and Harry started to become confused. Some of the memories he had no recollection of. For example, in a mushroom he saw an old weathered book, with strange symbols and disgusting depictions. Shivering he moved on deeper into the woods. All the while he had a strange feeling he was being watched. But from where? This was his own mind, and he didn't think Emrys would creepily watch him in a dark forest.

Finally he reached a wall of trees, the bark twisted and blackened, the branches were knotted and rotting. Harry looked at it trepidation, unease crawling down his spine. He pushed towards it, but couldn't find an entrance. Finally he stopped and focused, willing it to move. It was in _his_ mind after all. The trees creaked in protest, but eventual a small gap was formed.

Smiling in satisfaction, Harry walked through the gap and stopped in horror. A giant crack blemished the ground, black goo pulsed out of it and mist wrapped around the branches of the trees.

"What the hell." Harry whispered, slowly backing up.

"Not so fast."

Harry whirled around to find – him. Well, if he was made of mist but nevertheless, it looked like him.

"What are you?"

The creature smirked.

"I am you. I am who you will be."

Harry raised his eyebrows.

"I really let myself go then. Is it comfortable being billowing black smoke?"

The creature chuckled.

"I am your beliefs. Your darkest thoughts that you will slowly succumb to."

Harry snorted.

"Laugh all you want. I know you, I know your slow growing derision against the wizarding world, and dare I say, the buddings of dislike towards the muggle one?"

Harry's eyes widened and he stumbled back.

"You're wrong!"

The creature raised an eyebrow.

"Am I? Think of what you could do Harry, if you became me. Think of how you could change the world, make it better, and make the world round again. Wizards are better than muggles, and yet we hide from them. And what has it cost us? A disorganized mess of a society."

"You're wrong." Harry repeated, this time with less conviction.

The creature wryly smiled.

"These aren't my thoughts Harry. They're yours. Think on that Harry Potter. Good luck with your little quest. I hope you find what you are really looking for."

And with that, the creature's eyes flickered red, and then he disappeared. Harry stayed rooted to the spot, fear trickling down his spine. He shook his head and started to run out of the dark woods, leaving the mass of trees behind.

Harry burst through into a clearing, panting and falling to his knees. His thoughts swirled around in his head, quite literally as storm clouds started to brew in the distance.

 _Do I really think like that?_ Harry panically thought. Lately he had been critical of Wizarding Society. After all, it had spawned two Dark Lords almost one after another.

Thunder boomed and Harry looked up to see the storm clouds had darkened, and lightning flashed across the sky. He sighed, closing his eyes and willing the storm clouds to fade. He stumbled to his feet, only to stop in surprise.

In front of him were three pedestals. Rings of runes seemed to surround them, and a river gently flowed around them, cutting the ground around them. They each were adorned with three crystals. Two of them were clear, but the third was slowly pulsing with a rainbow of colors. Harry slowly reached for it.

~0o0~

"How did you do?"

Harry blearily woke to find himself back in the old Room, sitting at his favorite desk in the library. Emrys sat across from him, a grin plastered on his face.

 _He must have carried me back._ Harry thought, he opened his mouth to explain that he had failed to find the door.

"I think I did well, Snape actually awarded me points."

Harry's eyes widened and he shot out of his seat and whirled around to see – himself again. This time with a little less mist.

"I'm in a memory." Harry murmured with realization.

"When did Hell freeze over?" Past-Emrys asked.

Harry grinned. Shortly after he had thrown a tantrum, Emrys had started to teach him potions in hopes that he would appreciate it a little more then with Snape.

Past-Harry laughed and sat in his/their usual chair. Harry turned and started looking for an exit. Emrys had told him that he would need to sink further into his mind to find the door, hopefully this was an indication that he was getting closer. His eyes landed on the slightly ajar door to the corridor, something he knew wasn't part of the original memory as they were always careful to shut and seal the door.

Striding over to it, he slowly pulled the door open. He lingered to cast a fond look on his past memory, before stepping out.

~0o0~

Harry's feet landed on cold-black marble. His face drained as he recognized his surroundings. He broke out into a sprint, tearing down the hall until he reached the door.

Visions of Sirius dead body floating through the veil flashed through his mind and he shook his head.

"It's just a door Harry."

He nervously pushed on the door. It slowly creaked open to reveal a familiar circular room.

Harry felt fear clutch him as he slowly walked down the stairs and finally stood in front of the giant stone archway, a veil of cloth whispering in an unseen wind. Harry closed his eyes and bowed his eyes, a tear slowly rolling down his face and splashing on the hard grey ground.

He sighed before turning only to realize the doors were gone. Frantically he paced around the room looking for any exited before, with some trepidations, he turned to face the Veil.

"Only one way to go then." He said. He slowly walked forward until he felt the grey cloth wrap around him, and then he was gone.

~0o0~

Harry slowly woke, his limbs ached and groaned as he slowly climbed to his feet. He felt exhausted, like he had run around the entire world. His legs threatened to give out as he surveyed his surroundings. He was in ancient room, carvings and runes adorned the wall. Pictures showed great beasts fighting men, goblins and other beings. Scrawls of magical texts sat on pedestals and gold highlights and gems raced across the ceiling, forming a galaxy above him. A singular battered door lay across from him. A feeling of excitement flashed across him as he slowly reached for the door-handle. Pulling it opened, he found – a small cupboard.

Frowning he stepped in, recognizing it as his old bedroom. His old pictures still hung on the walls. He smiled as a few spiders skittered under his bed. His eyes flickered to the door as it slowly swung closed and he was plunged into darkness. Harry reached up and turned on the singular lightbulb, only to jump back and bang his head on the ceiling.

Harry winced and rubbed his head as he eyed the shovel that had appeared in the cupboard. His eyes furrowed in confusion as he picked it up, twirling it in his hands.

He gazed down at the ground before shaking his head.

"I'm insane." He muttered before plunging the shovel into the cupboard's floor. Harry continued to dig out a hole about 3 feet down before throwing the shovel aside in exhaustion.

He slumped up against the wall and closed his eyes. He felt the room going dark and knew he didn't have much time left before he would pass out. Suddenly he felt heat.

Harry opened his eyes to find fire pouring out of the pit he had dug.

"What the hell!" He shouted.

 _ **Don't be afraid Harry. Accept my gift to you.**_

The fire began to rise out of the pit, flames seared the walls and licked his legs.

Harry's vision started to blur and the room got darker. He slid down the wall and slumped against it. The fire started to swirl around him, searing his skin and sending waves of heat through his body. He heard the voice say,

 _ **This may sting a little**_ before everything faded to black.

~0o0~

Merlin paced back and forth over the slumped body of his pupil. Harry had been unconscious for far too long. Harry had entered his trance nearly twenty-four hours ago. The longest he had ever seen was six hours. That particular man had accidentally transformed himself into a peacock instead of his actual animagus form.

He sighed and finally conjured himself a desk and chair on the grass. He did have papers he unfortunately had to grade. The fifth through seventh years majorly were practically taught, but the younger years learned the theory. And thus boring essays.

He shuffled through a few papers before he heard the door behind him bang open. Merlin calmly set down his quill and turned to find Dumbledore striding towards him.

"How is he?" He asked.

"Still in the trance." Merlin replied. "I've never had anyone go past a few hours before. I fear this could have dire consequences."

Instead of looking worried, Dumbledore chuckled.

"Harry always has, and I suspect always will be, unique. I am not surprised that he is the first to go well over the intended time limit. Could he simply be stubborn and refuse to leave his mind until he finds his form?"

Merlin shook his head.

"No. You can only stay so long inside of your mind before feeling negative effects. Eventually you will simply pass out. I have taught him Occlumency, which could extended his visit but certainty not to this extent."

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully.

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Not without running the risk of damaging his mind. If he does not wake by tomorrow, I will enter his mind and fetch him."

Dumbledore sighed.

"I'm afraid I have matters to attend to. I trust you will look after him?"

"Of course I will."

"Good day then Merlin."

Merlin slightly shivered. It was always strange hearing his name after so many years. He watched the retreating form of the Headmaster until he closed the doors.

"Back to grading papers. My favorite."

Hours passed and Merlin rolled his eyes several times in exasperation at his student's obvious lack of effort in their essays. He was in the middle of reading a 4th years essay on Dementors when he felt the room shake. He quickly looked up and checked on Harry. Suddenly he and the desk were thrown backwards and a blinding golden light filled the room.

Merlin squinted and made out the form of something massive.

"This should be fun" He muttered. The golden light slowly dimmed revealing….

"Kilgharrah!" Merlin exclaimed.

The ancient dragon chuckled.

" _ **Hello Merlin.**_ **"**

Merlin stood staring up at the giant dragon before him.

"How- how are you here?"

Kilgharrah snorted.

" _ **I see your knowledge on dragons has not improved over the centuries Merlin. Dragons never truly die. Instead we exist on another plane of reality, watching and guiding a few select mortals. It took all of my building strength to transfer my conscious into your young apprentice."**_

"You can't just hijack Harry's animagus form! That could be catastrophic to his development!"

" _ **The young wizard is fine. His other form is still locked in here somewhere. I'm sure after a few years he may be able to learn it as well. For now, I am his primary second shape."**_

Merlin sighed and sat down in the grass.

"Is he aware right now? I assume since you are partially his animagus form he can hear and see what you do?"

" _ **Eventually. We are two hosts in two bodies. I have primacy over my own and he his own. With practice we both can see and hear and even take control of each other body. Do not fret Merlin, he is resting now in his own body."**_

Merlin suddenly leaped up and started to shake with fury.

"You lied to me!" He shouted "For years, years! I have waited for Arthur to come back! I've had so much time to reflect, and I realized that your advice was always self-fulfilling! If I hadn't listened to you, if I had helped Morgana, none of this would have happened!

The dragon carefully observed Merlin and bowed his head.

" _ **I am truly sorry Merlin. I believed myself to be right. On the matter of Arthur, there is much we need to discuss. You rightly suspect what power he has. It is very similar to the power the boy has. Have faith Merlin. You know who and what Arthur is to you. I must shift back now, less the boy suddenly wakes and overhears us. I have the feeling you want to wait to tell him. Do not wait too long Merlin, lest you find yourself with another Morgana."**_

"I hope to talk to you again Kilgharrah."

The dragon nodded and slowly began to transform. His wings became arms and scales started to mold back into a human body.

~0o0~

The world was dark and bleak. There was nothing but the darkness around him. Why was he there? For what purpose? He drifted slowly around the darkness, the void around him. Who was he?

"Harry!"

Harry. Such an ordinary name. Was it his? He wondered briefly if he had always been here. The darkness and the void that surrounded him. They felt peaceful. Perhaps he could just lay back and let the darkness consume him and take control.

"Harry!"

There was that annoying voice. Insistent thing, whatever was making it. Harry. The name niggled at him until he felt a burst of memories. Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One.

"HARRY!"

Harry slowly opened his eyes and groaned.

"Why do I feel like I've been hit by a Bludger several times?"

Emrys laughed from above him.

"You've been out for over a day Harry. It's Sunday night."

Harry bolted to his feet.

"What?!" He yelled. "You didn't say I would be out for that long!"

Emrys raised his eyebrows at him.

"The longest I've ever seen is six hours Harry. Although I shouldn't be surprised that you would break that record."

Harry glared at him before deflating.

"I thought I found the door but… there was just fire and then I woke up. Does that mean I don't have a form Emrys?"

Emrys hesitated and Harry narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"What is it?" He asked flatly.

"Wellllllll" Emrys said. "Your animagus form isn't like the traditional wizards form. It's uh… a sentient century old dragon."

Harry blinked.

"Did you just say-"

"Afraid so."

Harry promptly collapsed into a sitting position in the grass.

"Why? Why in the world do I have a dragon for my form? And I've faced a dragon before, it didn't seem all that intelligent."

Emrys chuckled.

"Long ago there was an ancient breed of dragons. They ruled and dominated the lands. They were mostly peaceful, bestowing there knowledge onto the next generation of Dragonlords. The Dragonlords were humans and non that had the ability to control dragons. It could only be passed down from father to son. Eventually a twisted king tricked the Dragonlords and had them call their dragons. He slew them all. Only one survived, a dragon named Kilgharrah. He is the dragon that resides alongside your soul now. It's said that he gave Merlin advice many times."

Harry mouth had fallen open. The voice inside his head was from Merlin's time! Of all the insane things to happen to him, this was not one that he had expected.

"So every time I use my animagus form, I give my control over to him?"

Emrys merely smiled.

"I think you should have that conversation with the dragon. Id imagine now that you have transformed once, it will allow you to easily talk to him."

Harry nodded before yawning loudly.

"I think I need to head to bed" He murmured.

Emrys nodded before stretching out his hand and projecting the time. He grimaced, it was well past curfew.

"I have to clean up the room and finish grading papers, do you mind using the cloak to get back to the tower?"

Harry narrowed his eyes.

"How did you know that I carried the cloak on me?"

Emrys just smiled mysteriously. Harry rolled his eyes and pulled it out.

"Thank you Emrys. For everything."

The man bowed his head, his eyes sparkling. Harry threw his cloak over him but stopped when Emrys gasped.

"Professor?" He asked.

"You disappeared!" Emrys shouted in panic.

Harry stopped and took off his cloak, concern in his eyes.

"Emrys… This is a cloak of invisibility it makes people… you know… invisible."

Emrys shook his head. "Yes of course, it must be getting late. Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight Emrys." He cast one last strange look at his friend and left the room.

~0o0~

Merlin sighed as he swished his wand, fixing the two fourth years in front of him. Typical Gryffindor's and Slytherin's, always at each other's throats. Godric and Salazar would admittedly be embarrassed of their houses rivalry.

"20 points from Slytherin and Gryffindor and a detention for both of you! I will not tolerate such mindless pettiness in dueling! This is serious and not something to mess around with!" Merlin shouted. The class stared at him in shock. He was normally a calm and collected person and rarely rose his voice in class. However when students started throwing around curses far above their level haphazardly, he intended to press the seriousness of the situation on them.

The rest of the day continued on smoothly until his sixth year class was up. He watched as Harry walked into the dueling hall. He flashed him his usual smile and let the class begin. As the Christmas break was fast approaching, he had assigned the class the attempt to make their very own spell. Although defense didn't technically cover advanced spell creation, he saw no harm in teaching the basics. Flexibility was always a good part of dueling.

Tables and mats covered the usually empty dueling hall. Students rushed over to them and sat their bags aside. Some worked in pairs, whilst other alone. He wandered over to Harry's table where he had a mass of new books stacked on top of each other and a block of metal sitting on his table.

"What happened to your shifting curse?" Merlin asked.

Harry shrugged. "I thought of something a bit different."

Merlin picked up a book called _The Elementalists Handguide._ Flicking through it he saw mentions of destructive abilities of the elements.

"Good luck then."

Harry smiled.

"Thanks Emrys."

Merlin wandered from table to table, checking on his students' progress and helping those with questions. He was after all over a millennium, he should be able to handle making a spell or two.

His eyes however, continued to roam back to Harry. The other night, when he had put his cloak on he had disappeared. His signature, aura and core. Merlin was certain that it had not happened before, as he had been able to see him sneaking around under it before.

"I have a bad feeling about this." He muttered. The student next to him looked at him warily.

~0o0~

Harry climbed the stairs leading to the seventh floor with no small amount of trepidation. Tonight he would be by himself as Emrys had detention with two fourth years who had been irresponsible with spells during dueling. Instead of just practicing spells Emrys has instructed him to try to make contact with the dragon.

He reached out and opened the doors to find the familiar training room. Harry smiled and walked in, throwing his bag down on a chair in the library. He settled in to his favorite chair and slowly closed his eyes.

 _Hello?_

 _ **Hello Young wizard. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever call.**_

 _I was a bit busy._

 _ **Too busy to ponder what has transpired? No matter, I sense that you have a question for me.**_

 _How did you become my animagus form?_

A deep chuckled resonated around his mind, causing Harry to visibly wince.

 _ **The ancient dragons do not simply die when we are slain. We transcend into another plane. We slowly build our strength and it allows us to help manipulate the world. I had been saving my energy for you, Harry Potter. It took everything I had to reach you.**_

 _So does that mean that you are powerless?_

 _ **No. Tying myself to you gives me the gift to replenish my powers as usual. I am in essence, reborn inside you.**_

 _That sounds creepy._

 _ **Fear not, it does you no harm Young Wizard. My power is sadly limited however, I would require my own body to use my typical for of magic. I can still assist you in your training.**_

 _Thank you. Anything to give me the edge over Voldemort would help._

 _ **Voldemort is fastly becoming the least of your worries Harry.**_

 _What? Why?_

 _ **I wish I could say more, but I cannot. I am bound by oaths to not speak of what is to come.**_

 _What can I do then Kilgharrah?_

 _ **Prepare young wizard. Death is fast approaching this land.**_

A/N

I'm still not happy with this chapter. I've reviewed and rewritten it several times. Instead of making you all wait for a few more months though, I decided to finally just release it. Anyway, addressing some concerns with the last chapter.

Many of you guessed correctly that his form would be a dragon and the voice would be Kilgharrah, although I hoped I slightly surprised you that they were one and the same. To clear up any confusions, Kilgharrah basically hijacked Harry's animagus form so that he could help him.

Harry isn't going to become more powerful then Merlin. One or two people expressed concerns about this and don't worry it's not going to happen. In a straight up duel, Merlin will always win through this whole story, period. That being said Harry is going to become stronger. I hope my reasoning for including Kilgharrah become clear later on.

Anyway, have a good day everyone and leave a review if you want!


	12. Chapter 12

Merlin hummed to himself as he climbed a rocky slope. He held a staff in front of him and used to it to move leaves and clutter out of the way. He stopped and smiled as he climbed onto a giant cliff. The sea battered the rocks below him. Merlin's eyes sparkled as he looked out at a small island resting out across the waves. He closed his eyes and bowed his head before opening them and turning around to face the cliffside.

He traced his hand over the smooth rock before swelling his magic around him and pulsing it through the stone. The stone shattered, revealing a passageway behind it. Merlin smirked and calmly strode into the cave, keeping his walking stick in front of him.

Merlin followed the passageway until it slowly opened into a giant cave. Merlin's eyes widened in amazement. He stood on a ledge that towered over a giant lake of murky water. The walls were made of giant crystalline formations In the center of it all was a pillar of crystals that took shape to form a platform where a pedestal glowed with a silver light.

"Perhaps Voldemort takes up interior decorating as a hobby." Merlin commented to himself before whirling in place only to fall to his feet in pain.

He reached out in confusion, even if there were anti-apparation wards, he should have been able to rip through them. Merlin cast out his senses and shook his head at his stupidity.

"You're getting slow Merlin." He muttered to himself. Merlin set down his staff next to him and calmly closed his eyes. He traced the enchantments and warding's around the room until he found a giant glowing spider-web. Merlin breathed in and sent a massive spike of power through the web, tearing it to pieces.

"Mordred must have been here." He said. Merlin closed his eyes again and checked that there weren't any other surprises. He sighed and shook his head, climbing to his feet. He stepped forward and arrived immediately on the island in the epicenter of the cave. Merlin calmly climbed up the crystals until he reached the pedestal upon which a bowl sat. A strange murky substance lurked inside of it. Merlin could feel a darkness pulsing from within it. He snapped his fingers and the wards around the basin fell away. He brushed his hand over the strange liquid and it slowly receded until a locket with an S emerged. Merlin plucked it from the basin before frowning. Although he could sense remnants of soul material in the area, the locket itself was normal.

He frowned and unlatched it. His eyes widened as a note fluttered out.

"To the Dark Lord,

I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more

R.A.B."

Merlin closed his eyes and bowed his head in sadness. He would most likely never know who this person was, but he had done a great service. Unfortunately, Merlin had no way of telling if R.A.B. had succeeded in destroying the Horcrux. He sighed and turned to go, hoping that Dumbledore would have an inkling of who this man, or woman for that matter was.

Lost in his thought, he nearly failed to notice the Death Eaters apparating in and firing brilliant green curses directly at his heart.

~0o0~

Harry tiredly climbed to his feet and held out his hand.

"Come now Potter. Even someone as incompetent as you has to show some display of skill."

Harry glared across the dueling mat at Professor Snape. Once again Emrys was busy and once again he was stuck with Snape. Any semblance of respect seemed to be tossed aside as Harry repletely failed to even muster a drop of wandless magic.

"That will be all for today Potter. I hope our next session is more productive." Snape said. With that he turned around, billowing cape and all and slinked out of the Room.

"Clotpole." Harry muttered. He had heard Emrys exclaim it a few times and it sounded like a relatively good insult. He trudged over to the library and picked up a thick tome on wandless magic,

 ** _That won't work you know._**

Harry frowned and carefully set aside the book. In the past few days Killigarah rarely had spoken to him.

 _Where have you been?_

 ** _Recovering. I apologize for my absence. I thought I would inform you that regular wandless magic is impossible for you._**

Harry narrowed his eyes. Although the dragon's tones all sounded the same, he did seem suspiciously… guilty?

 _Why do I have the feeling you have something to do with this?_

 ** _I am a creature of the Old Religion. Although being bound with me does have its advantages, it also comes with limitation._**

Harry's brow knitted in confusion.

 _Old Religion? I've never heard of it._

 ** _I am not surprised young wizard. The Old Religion is only known to a handful of people in this time of this world. The Old Religion is the original magic. It is the wild life force of this spectrum of reality. Mages of Old tapped into the life force, channeling it through their cores._**

 _So what happened?_

 ** _The Old Religion is dangerous and chaotic. Its magic is much harder to harness then tapping into your core. Practitioners of the Old Religion commonly used amulets and other devices to harness its power. It was only greater wizards such as Merlin and Morgana who could tap its power with ease and use it in battle for long periods of time. Only those strong with the Ancient Magic or those with the power of the greatest have the ability to directly tap into the Old Religion._**

 _So, do I have to learn magic through the Old Religion instead of learning wandless magic?_

 ** _I did not say it was impossible to learn wandless magic. I merely pointed out the traditional ways were closed to you._**

 _Why?_

 ** _The Wizards of your age tap their cores directly to use magic. To use it without a wand, they must dig deeper within themselves._**

 _In the past when I have tried to draw more of my magic, I always felt a burning fire start to consume me. That's you, isn't it?_

 ** _It Is. Although your core is great enough to preform regular magic, anything beyond requires for you to draw upon my strength._**

 _How do I do that?_

 ** _You must open your mind Young Wizard. Modern Wizards, Witches and Warlocks only focus on themselves and the magic that emanates from them. You must open your senses, feel the very essence of existence flow around you. It is the very foundation of learning the Old Ways, and how your teacher never needs to move from the spells, for he knows what you are going to cast. Heed my words, this knowledge and gift can come with the price of overconfidence, in moments of great distraction you may not notice the world anymore, as the world becomes centered around you once again. Now, I must rest and you must practice. I except great things from you Young Wizard._**

Harry shivered as The Great Dragon's voice faded from his mind.

"Open my senses." Harry muttered. "How do I go about doing that?"

~0o0~

 _You're getting old_ Merlin thought to himself. If it hadn't been for his keen sense of the energy around him, he would have had about 20 killing curses straight to the chest. That would have not been very pleasant, even for him.

Merlin raised his hand and a large white barrier flowed around him, absorbing the curses and slowly turning green itself. His eyes flashed gold and a shockwave of energy blasted through the cave from his shield.

The Death Eaters were all thrown back, their bodies splayed across the ground. Merlin rolled onto his feet as most of them started to get to their feet. A few bodies lay still against the crystals.

"Get him!" One of the men roared. Merlin sighed and bowed his head, giving his respect to their inevitable deaths before drawing upon his magic to prepare himself.

Merlin threw a lightning bolt, killing the man across from him before swiftly erecting a smaller version of the white shield on his arm. He expertly twirled it around him, absorbing all the incoming curses before slamming his hand to the ground. The crystals shook and buckled, some falling from the ceiling and killing a few men. Merlin's eyes quickly darted around as he rolled away from another stray curse.

 _14_

Merlin clapped his hands together, sending another bolt of lightning that leaped between a cluster of Death Eaters

 _10_

His eyes widened and he quickly ducked under a cutting curse, before reaching out and slinging it back at the witch who had cast it.

 _9_

Merlin noted one of the Death Eaters breaking off from the main group and casting a black curse into the water. He frowned and twisted his hand, causing a nearby chunk of crystal to slam into his body.

He growled softly as he saw Inferi rising out of the water. _Must be one of the defenses._ He thought. Luckily, a long time ago after another warlock had tainted a whole city, he had an effective way to deal with them.

Merlin raised his hands and the crystals around the cave twisted and moved to block incoming curses. He took a deep breath and held out his hands.

 _"æcernspranca ádfýr searu dryhtné!"_ Merlin yelled.

A roaring fire sprang from his hands, twisting in the air and separating. It enveloped the Inferi, destroying them completely. Merlin grinned and turned his attention back to the battle. The Death Eaters were keeping busy with the animated crystals. Merlin sighed and drew up his magic once more. He felt it sing around him before he concentrated it into a single bolt. Merlin threw the energy straight into a crystal. It spread rapidly, killing any Death Eater touching the ground. Cries filled the cave, then thumps of the body's, then silence.

Merlin looked around him, a deep sadness permeating him before he twisted around and the winds enveloped him.

~0o0~

Harry paced around the room in frustration. He had spent most of the day in the Room of Requirements trying to "open his senses" with no luck. He growled in frustration and slashed his wand across a block of wood, splintering it into pieces.

 _"Reparo"_ Harry muttered, watching as the broken fragments of wood mended themselves back onto the table.

"You know, usually you use that for transfiguration."

Harry smiled and turned around.

"Hello Emrys."

Emrys grinned back, slowly walking towards him.

"So, what's got you taking your anger out on that poor defenseless block?"

Harry sighed and leaned up against the stone and closed his eyes.

"Kilgharrah wants me to 'open my senses'. I don't know how, and I've had no success."

"I'm not surprised. Kilgharrah was always said to be cryptic. Here, come over to the dueling circle and sit. It is more comfortable."

Harry sighed and reluctantly trudged after Emrys into the dueling ring. Emrys slowly sat and looked up at Harry, gesturing to a spot across from him.

"Sit."

Harry sighed again and sat across from Emrys.

"Now, close your eyes and enter your trees."

Harry breathed in deeply and slowly closed his eyes.

"This may feel strange at first." Emrys voice intoned over him.

Harry nodded and slowly the forest of trees cumulated around him.

~0o0~

Harry smiled as he looked around at the forest that grew around him. A soft breeze flitted across his mind, swaying the grass around him. Harry looked up and saw the usual pale blue sky.

 _Can you hear me Harry?_

Harry jumped in surprise and whirled around to find a giant totem carved out of wood. Strange symbols and gold carvings inlayed the wooden structure.

"Yes?" Harry said uncertainly.

 _Good. The best way to open your mind to the rest of the world is to change it from the inside._

"How do I do that?"

 _Your mind is shaped like a world, complete with lush forests, plains and waterfalls. If you take a moment to look deeper, you will see that it is your memories that take the shape of a natural world. What you do not see is the energy that flows even through your mind. Your core and brain are connected interictally, and the patterns of magic are stored inside your mindscape, just like it is in the real world. Feel your magic, and call it forward in your world, so that you may start to feel all magic in the real one._

Harry nodded, then closed his eyes and merged completely with his mind. He felt the cool breezes shimmer across the leaves of his memories, keeping them fresh for him to view. He felt the flowers looking up at the sun and the sun itself shining down on his mind. Harry felt another gust of wind flowing through his mind and realized that it must be his magic. He willed it to come forward, to show itself to him. It responded, struggling and twisting against him. Harry frowned for a few moments, before he started to follow the breeze with his mind.

It twisted and bent around his mind. In and out of crevices, through ponds and lakes. It danced around the dark forest and seemed to sing around the three pedestals that sat across from it. Harry pushed deeper and followed it back to its source, the sun.

 _This is my core._ Harry thought with a firm certainty. He once again called on his magic, but this time his call came from the sun, the source of his magic. The gusts quickly turned into a gale, finally happy to obey him. Harry opened his eyes and stared around his mind in wonder.

Bolts of energy shot around the trees like lightning. A low mist of purple dust seemed to hang around the grass, collecting smaller sparks from it. Strings of blue light flowed high above him, forming a barrier all around him. The sun itself was even brighter, pulses of pure silver shot from it straight into the blue lights.

"What is all this." Harry asked in awe.

 _This is magic. This is how it interacts with you. Eventually it will fade into the background and only the most important pieces will be shown to you. It can be distracting at first, but you will learn to filter it out. This perhaps was the easiest challenge in front of you._

"That was easy?" Harry said sarcastically.

 _Compared to what it will be like when you try to see magic in the real world, yes. Now then, it's time for you to come back._

Harry sighed and looked around his mind before finally opening his eyes.

~0o0~

Harry yawned and moved back over to his favorite seat.

"So how do I learn to do that in the real world?"

Merlin sighed and took the seat across from him.

"It will not be easy. Meditate on this world and the world inside your mind. It should help you connect them to easily apply what you know from one to the other."

Harry stared at him with an exasperated expression. Merlin was briefly reminded of when he used to give Kilgharrah the same expression. _How the tables turned_ He thought.

"Well. I'll try I suppose. I talked to Kilgharrah again today and he told me about the Old Religion."

Merlin stiffened in his chair before relaxing. Obviously, Harry didn't know about him, else he imagined the conversation would be going down a different route.

"Ah, the Old Religion, the eldest magic."

Harry gave him a strange look before asking,

"Is that what you use?"

Merlin calmly took a few breaths before replying.

"Sort of. I use the undercurrent of the Old Magics. It allows me to use wandless magic with as much skill as if I had a wand."

Merlin wondered how long it would take Harry to realize that the only way to do what he did was by directly using The Old Religion. He mentally sighed to himself. Sometimes his lying habits tended to back himself into a corner.

Harry nodded but he still looked uncertain.

"Emrys… Kilgharrah mentioned that only those connected with The Old Religion and those who had the power of the greatest could use the old magics. What did he mean?"

"Power of the greatest. It refers to the wizards in the world who have the raw power to move mountains, drain lakes and conjure fires hotter than the sun. These wizards are almost always noted in history and are usually the leaders of some organization. Voldemort and Dumbledore are two with the power of the greatest that oppose each other."

Harry's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Then how do you use it Emrys? Even at its basics, I assume that the rule still applies. How are you connected with The Old Religion?"

"I am one with the power of the greatest Harry. Although I am also deeply connected with The Old Religion in ways that I do not wish to discuss."

Technically Merlin did not have the power of the greatest as his raw power was stronger than all of them, but that was a little detail Harry didn't need to know yet.

"Are you more powerful then Dumbledore?"

Merlin smiled.

"In raw strength, yes."

Harry blinked at him before getting up out of his chair.

"I – I'm going to go to bed if that's alright sir."

Merlin looked at Harry in confusion.

"Of course."

Harry nodded again and ran from the room.

~0o0~

Harry leaned up against the wall panting. Emrys was – powerful. He had always known his mentor was stronger than most, he had defeated Voldemort. But Harry had assumed that was skill and not raw power. Suddenly Harry wondered how much of Emrys he actually saw. By his own words, most wizards of his power went on to lead an organization. If he was stronger than Dumbledore, then what was his goal? Why was he teaching at Hogwarts? Why was he training Harry? Harry wasn't a fool, he was sure Emrys used the actual Old Magics and not just a weaker version of it.

Harry closed his eyes and started to calmly breath. He was being stupid. Sure, Emrys was powerful, but he had known him for months. He considered him his friend and mentor. Surely if he had some alternate agenda he would have attempted to twist Harry towards it already?

With his mind made up, Harry started to walk back towards Gryffindor Tower. _I still think he is my friend._ Harry thought as he climbed a flight of stairs. _I'll just be careful around him._

 **A/N:**

So, Harry seems to be growing more suspicious of Merlin. When will Merlin reveal who he really is, and how will Harry take it?

I apologize for being gone for so long, but I try to write these at my own pace. Soon we will be getting into the actual conflict/ plot of this story! (Which I'm excited for!)

I'm not completely sure about how the battle scene with Merlin turned out, but I thought it was the best I was going to get it.

Also! Opinion time, I've been thinking about writing another fanfiction tied to this one that tells of some of the less important events that happen between the main chapters. It will be more of a loose format and the chapter won't be that long. It won't take away from this story and might serve for some inspirations. So, let me know what you think!

And one last thing, I've been slowly editing the first few chapters of this story to make them better. It doesn't add anything to the plot, it just adds a lot more detail and length to some of the chapters. Currently I have finished with Chapter one and I'm working on a few others on the side.

As always, have a great day and a Happy New year!


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I apologize for putting this at the beginning of this chapter, I realize that some people on fanfiction dislike Author's Notes. I figured that since I've been gone for a year, I owed this at the start. The Emrys Exchange is never going to be abandoned. I started this story when I had just finished the first semester of my Junior year in High School. Now as I write this, it is at the end of my first semester in College. The reasons for my inactivity are many, but mainly because I hated what I wrote. I disliked my writing style and I felt it was all over the place and not going anywhere. However, throughout this year I have tried to overcome this. I am going to continue to write this story, until it is finished. Thank you to anyone who has decided to stick around for this long, I promise to not be gone for a year again! To make it up to you all, this is the longest chapter I've written.**

~0o0~

Merlin quietly walked into the dueling room, making sure to fully close the door behind him. Luckily most of the students were already hard at work. Tables were haphazardly placed around, and books covered most of them. The initial excitement of creating their own spell had slowly worn off for most of the sixth years. Small whispers of conversation broke off as Merlin strode through the awkward hallway in between tables. He briefly stopped and glanced at an empty table. It was flanked by two others, one belonging to Mr. Weasley and the other by Miss. Granger. Forgotten books hung off the sides as they animatedly whispered to each other. Merlin cleared his throat and they both jumped, looking at him sheepishly. Miss. Granger suddenly perked up.

"Professor, do you know where Harry is?" Merlin winced before nodding down at their books.

"At the moment he is fine Miss. Granger. I will speak to you both after class, now, get back to work." He said before striding off, checking on a few students. Merlin glanced back to see Miss. Granger gaping at him before huffing and sitting back down. He sighed and shook his head, he would tell them after class. There was nothing they or he could do. _Why not? What's the point of having all of this power if you can't even save a sixth year?_ Merlin growled, shaking his thoughts and slamming himself down on his desk, peeking over a few times to make sure everyone was still working.

Most of the work the sixth years were doing did not require his help, it allowed him a small break as well as a little time to catch up on his grading. Something he definitely had to get used now that he had more than a few apprentices. He sighed before allowing his meditation to overcome his senses, calming him down. It wouldn't do to act like Snape and start biting students heads off for asking a question. Speaking of -

"Professor?" Miss. Granger said, her hand high in the air. Merlin slowly got up again and trotted reluctantly over to her table. He already knew how this conversation was going to go.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" He said. She bit her lip before nodding lightly. "Where's Harry?"

Merlin sighed and shook his head. "Miss Granger, I'm afraid Harry is in the infirmary."

Mr. Weasley angrily stood up and glared at Merlin. "Why the bloody hell didn't you tell us before?! We've been worried sick abou-"

"Mr. Weasley." Merlin said calmly. "That is enough. There is nothing you can do right now, I was planning on escorting you and _after_ class."

The boy slowly sunk back down looking abashed. "Sorry Professor" he muttered.

Merlin stared at him for a few seconds before nodding. "I understand you are both stressed and worried over your friends. I will not take any points or assign a detention. _This time._ Make sure it does not happen again Mr. Weasley."

With that, Merlin walked away and started to help another student. He smiled and carefully explained the components of the vanishing spell. This was the part he loved most. Explaining concepts, seeing his appr.. er - students apply the concepts to their own world. It was why he disagreed with modern Occlumency experts, it was better to shape your mind into a whole world instead of a blank void. It allowed people to become familiar with themselves, as well as the structure of their mind.

~0o0~

"Come along" Merlin simply said as he strode out of the open doors. Mr. Weasley and Miss. Granger briskly followed him. He snapped his fingers and the tables slowly melted back into the floor. His next class with the seventh years would require an empty space to set up in. Pausing, he snapped his fingers again and he watched as dirt and stones started to form on the ground.

"Do you know what happened to Harry, Professor?" Miss. Granger asked. Merlin shook his head and started down the corridor. "No, last night he collapsed and was clutching his scar. He hasn't woken up yet."

"How many times is this now." Mr. Weasley said lowly. Merlin stopped and whirled around, realizing he had stopped. "How many times what?"

"First we find out that he was in the hospital wing for a few hours because of _something_ and then again for god knows what. And now this. All three times with you. He rarely even talks to us anymore since he has been doing _something_ with you."

Anger flashed across Merlin's face and he took a deadly step forward.

"What Harry does is his own business. In case you haven't noticed, there's a war on outside these walls Mr. Weasley. I don't have time for jealousy of a schoolboy. Take your concerns up with Harry, not me. 20 points from Gryffindor, I warned you before."

With that, he briskly walked away, leaving them scrambling behind him. With Merlin's fast pace they quickly reached the doors of the Hospital Wing. He quietly opened the door to reveal Dumbledore hanging over Harry's motionless body.

"Oh Harry." Miss. Granger murmured from behind him. They both quickly trotted over to him, sitting in their respective chairs around his bed. Dumbledore sighed and looked at Merlin. He slowly nodded to the corner.

"Any updates?" Merlin asked. Dumbledore shook his head and peeked back over at Harry. "None, are you sure nothing else happened Mer - Emrys" Dumbledore amended.

Merlin shook his head. "I told you before, we were wrapping up. He had all of his books in his bag and was about to leave when he fell down, clutching his scar." Dumbledore nodded gravely.

"We checked all of his belongings for curses, we found none. Similarly his room and the Gryffindor common room were all clean. Madam Pomfrey is at a loss to explain the situation. I'm afraid there is little that you or I can do."

Merlin restrained himself from banging his head on the wall. _All this power and you -._

"Shut up" Merlin snarled to himself under his breath before turning his attention back to Dumbledore. "We will simply have to hope for the best then. Unfortunately I must get back to Class."

Dumbledore sighed again and started to walk back to Harry's bed before glancing back at Merlin. "And I must get back to a few matters that require my attention."

He turned his attention on Mr. Weasley and Miss. Granger. "I suspect you both will be more than willing to watch over Harry while we are gone?"

They both turned and eagerly nodded. Miss. Granger perked up and started to get papers out of her bag. "We can work on some Homework while we wait - right Ron?"

The boy in question groaned and rolled his eyes. He hesitated and looked at Merlin. "I'm sorry about before sir - erm I was just - um - frustrated."

Merlin stared at him and nodded curtly. What he said before was true, he didn't need a constant debate with one of Harry's friends. He glanced back at Harry's unconscious body and swept from the room.

~0o0~

"We have been practicing standard dueling for long enough now. " Merlin said as he strode back into the dueling room. The seventh years were clumped towards the front of the room. Boulders and trees showered the room, its internal size temporarily expanded. Merlin swished his hand and two balls, one green and one red exploded into existence. Slowly names scrolled into existence beneath them.

"I am separating you all into two teams. Gryffindor under green, Slytherin under red." The seventh years looked at him in nothing less than scandalized horror before they got under their respective colors.

"Your objective is to take down the enemy team." Merlin said simply. "Nothing deadly, be creative with your spell work. When one team is incapacitated the match is won. To make this a bit more interesting the winning team gets a special prize. Believe me, it's worth it."

The students murmured between themselves, wondering what Merlin had in store for them. He grinned and lifted his hand. He snapped his fingers and both teams disappeared. "Your time starts now" He murmured and sat back onto a chair he conjured. Merlin waved his hand and the two balls of lights returned, this time projecting both teams for him to see.

Wouldn't do for them to kill each other. Currently they were shuffling around, confused with their surroundings. Briefly, Merlin wondered how Harry would fare in this situation. Randomly sent into an unknown location facing an enemy that could come from any location. He had charmed the room so that they could never reach the edge, once they did they would simply appear on the opposite side of the room none the wiser. Being over a thousand had some advantages on how you taught children.

~0o0~

Clark shuffled to the side of the tree and peeked around, casting a strong shield around him just in case. Sure enough, several jets of red light slammed into the tree and one bounced off his shield.

"They're here" He hissed back to his team and they slunk back into the woods, aiming to catch the other team by surprise. It was agreed that he would be the bait. The others had sniggered and said it was because he was the _strongest_. He knew it was because he was a muggleborn. He growled and sent a stunner back at one of the idiots hanging out from behind the trees. It struck him and sent him flying back.

Since he had first arrived at Hogwarts, Clark had struggled in Slytherin. It was rare for a mudblood to make it into the esteemed house, and even rarer for them to flourish. He had made a few friends in the other houses, but it was tiring. Another flash of light glanced across his shield, this time making it crack. He winced and quickly found cover farther back against the trees.

"Where are they?!" Clark grumbled, poking his head out and banishing rocks at the group, trying to make it seem like there was more than just him. He yelped and rolled back as the other team's patience cracked, and one of the members simply sliced the tree in half and banished it across the woods. Although Clark fancied himself to be capable in defending himself, he knew that in open combat against the entire enemy team, he would be slaughtered.

"Where's the rest of them!" Someone exclaimed as he summoned a bundle of rocks in front of him to absorb the incoming spell-fire. "It's a trap!" One of the others exclaimed.

Clark had always held it in his opinion that Gryffindors were the brash bunch, always requiring an unnecessary entrance and making huge spectacles. However, his Slytherin teammates had decided to give them a run for their money.

Boulders flew at the enemy team, bouncing off of them harmlessly. A field of stunners caught most of the startled Gryffindors. The rest quickly tried to mount a resistance against the invading Slytherins. Harmless smoke filled the area as the remaining Gryffindors quickly regrouped to send electric tendrils at the charging Slytherins. They scattered and Clark reminded the Gryffindors that he was still there. He banished the smoke and swiftly incapacitated one of the defenders. The rest were quickly cut down by the remaining Slytherins.

Clark smirked in satisfaction as he felt the forest melt away, leaving them all standing in the much smaller dueling room. Professor Emrys was sitting at his desk, casually watching them. He lazily flicked his wand and the Gryffindors regained conscious. Both teams lined up and watched as The Professor got to his feet. He observed the Gryffindors before simply asking: "What did you do wrong?"

Pandemonium spread as they all offered up excuses, blaming each other and the world around them. The Slytherins simply stood smugly.

"Burk." Professor Emrys said. "What do you think went wrong with the enemy team?"

Burk smirked "The Gryffindors were all too eager to pick a fight. They had no strategy but simply _attack_ and were fooled by Clark of all people."

Professor Emrys eyed him for a moment before pacing back over to the Gryffindors. "Although I wouldn't put it so harshly, Burk is essentially correct. You had little strategy to your plan. Your enemy took advantage of your weakness to confuse you, and make you believe the one enemy was the whole force."

"We figured it out eventually!" The person who had spotted Clark earlier objected. Professor Emrys nodded slowly. "But far too late. The Slytherins were already in place. Now, as a small favor for losing, I will give you a small tidbit of advice. Do not fear Slytherin, your reward will be more than equal. Make yourself comfortable while you wait."

With that he brushed his wand across and several comfortable sofas appeared with a large table containing treats in the center. Clark grinned and picked up a treat, popping it in his mouth with satisfaction.

"Good work Clark." Dahlia commented as she took a seat. Burk snorted and took a few treats. "For a mudblood" He muttered.

Clark rolled his eyes and sat back.

" - Have you realized what their mistake was?" Professor Emrys said. Clark jumped a little and looked around. Across the room The Professor was sitting with the Gryffindors over lesser quality chairs. Clark frowned and sneaked a look back at his fellow Slytherins. Sure enough, they all seemed oblivious to the conversation, content on making fun of how badly the Gryffindors had done. _Why can I hear through the silencing charm_ Clark wondered.

"They waited far too long to attack. You were never in contact with the main force, all the time it was Clark. They could have finished the fight much sooner. Yet they took the time to savor their position of power." Professor Emrys said.

"How was Clark able to do all of that?" One of the Gryffindor girls asked in amazement. Clark blushed slightly and looked away, pretending he wasn't listening in.

"Will." Professor Emrys said simply. "Everyone has a reservoir of magic that eventually limits them. But even that can be overcomed by the sheer will of the user. Magic responds firmer and faster to those with an indomitable will."

Clark smirked and leaned back, tuning out his fellow Slytherins and enjoying his victory.

~0o0~

Harry had become accustomed to the dark. When one floated without a sense of attachment to anything, it became hard not to. Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt trees trying to rebuild and rivers attempting to flow again. Somewhere a fire was growing stronger but for now was content on being embers. His mind was at rest, attempting to ignore the giant hole that permeated through it. Cracks lined the walls of canyons and broken leaves were strewn across the ground. A heaviness weaved around it all and originated from the hole.

Harry wasn't really sure how long it had been since he had been floating, high above the strange landscape he was in. It was delightfully peaceful. He knew that he probably should be somewhere, but a part of him couldn't find it within him to care. _**You Must**_.

The fire below him rumbled and he gasped as he landed back on the ground. Pain washed over him and he screamed in agony. Fire and molten lava burst out of the ground and washed over him. Rather than burning him however, it strangely comforted him. He collapsed into it and watched as trees caught on fire, burning to a crisp and suddenly being reborn new and whole.

 _ **Like a Phoenix.**_ The voice tenderly whispered to him. _**Your mind was badly damaged Young Wizard.**_

The Fire gently set him down and Harry groggily looked around. Pieces of his memory fell back into place.

"Killigarrah?" He weakly muttered. A rumbling amusement emanated from around him. _**I apologize for the intrusion Young Wizard, but I fear it would have taken much longer for your mind to recover naturally.**_

"What happened?" Harry asked, rolling back on the grass and watching as his mind was slowly repaired. With every tree fixed, and every crack sealed shut, Harry felt better. _**Whatever was causing the dark forest in your mind was forcibly ripped out. Although I approve, the way it was done left your mind in tatters. You have been in the Hospital wing for over a day Young Wizard. Without my help, it would have been a fortnight.**_

Harry sighed in relief as he felt the sun shine down on him. The majority of his mind was back to normal. "Thank you" Harry breathed out. _**Do not thank me yet Young Wizard. I have healed you mentally, your body may need some time to recover.**_

"That sounds encouraging" Harry said. Slowly, he closed his eyes and opened them in the real world.

~0o0~

Harry already hated being awake. His body ached and pains flared across his nerves. Madam Pomfrey bustled over, checking him with spells.

"Lie down" She said gently, moving the pillow more comfortably. "Water?" She asked, summoning a glass to her. Harry nodded blearily and drank, before drifting back off to sleep.

"Do you think he will be alright?" A feminine voice said from above him. Harry groaned and tried to sit up.

"I wouldn't do that mate" A male voice intoned from his other side. Harry slowly opened his eyes and found Hermione and Ron hovering above him.

"How are you?" Hermione cautiously asked. Harry grunted and collapsed back into the bed. Ron chuckled. "I guess that answers that."

Madam Pomfrey smiled and came over. "He will need plenty of rest dears."

Ron and Hermione took the hint and grudgingly left Harry in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey looked back to Harry and gave him a potion. "This should help"

Harry slowly nodded and drank the potion, grimacing at the taste. He set it aside and felt the world swirling around him again. "Rest dear. Your going to need it."

After a week of recovery, Harry grudgingly went back to class. Hermione and Ron stuck to him closer than usual. Emrys had told him that his lessons were cancelled until he was fully recovered. Harry was starting to get tired of being treated like glass.

"Come on mate" Ron said. "Hermione has us pinned down at the library. Says we need to finish our essays."

Harry sighed and looked at Ron. "Actually I was hoping that I cou - "

"Come on!" Ron said, grabbing his hand and nervously looking behind him as he dragged Harry down the hall. Harry quickly snapped his hand away and glared at Ron. "What the hell was that about?!"

Ron scratched the back of his head. "Sorry mate - those girls were looking at you weird. I was just - worried."

Harry twisted around and stared at the two girls. One eeped and dropped her scales. "I don't think they are going to be bothering us much Ron."

"I know - I'm just - I'm worried about you Harry. WIth everything that's happened. Every year you get in danger. And now its like you -" He fell quiet.

"I, what?" Harry said softly. He stared at Ron for a moment before briefly nodding. "Right. Let get this over with." With that, he started walking towards the library.

"Get what over with?" Ron called as he scrambled after him. Harry ignored him and continued on his mission. Eventually he reached the library and Harry quietly sat across from Hermione, noticing he had lost Ron on the way. He regarded his friend who was deep in her work. She flicked through her books and quietly, trying not to disturb those around her, wrote her answers. Harry smiled with affection. Perhaps he had been neglecting his friends lately. _The War_.

Harry sighed. His friends were important to him, but he had faced reality. He wasn't going to be any use hiding behind people forever. "Hermione." He said gently. She shot up and stared at him right as Ron ran into the room. "Took you long enough." Harry laughed. Ron glared at him and sat down.

"Harry!" Hermione grinned. "Have you started your essay in charms? I admittedly was confused with the latest theory. I thought maybe that -"

Harry grinned and sat back in his chair, simply listening to her talk. Ron sat next to him, his mouth hanging open as a glazed look starting to form over his eyes. _The War_. Harry smiled and got his book out, plopping his essay down and asking Hermione a question. The war could go bugger off for the evening.

~0o0~

Merlin strode into Dumbledore's office and gently set down a tangled mess of metal on his desk. Dumbledore gave him a long look then carefully picked up the bent metal. He frowned and tapped his wand to it. Slowly, it wavered and creaked back into shape. Dumbledore's eyes widened.

"Is this Ravenclaw's Diadem?" He asked. Merlin slowly nodded. Dumbledore smiled. "Well done Merlin for destroying another Horcrux."

Merlin shook his head. "I was afraid you were going to say that. I had nothing to do with its destruction."

Dumbledore frowned and clasped his hand together. "First Harry's horcrux is shredded. Now we found another destroyed. Where did you find it?"

"In the Room of Requirements. I was setting up this weeks lesson for Harry. It was sitting on one of the tables. I could tell it had once held a shard of him." Merlin replied. He paced back and forth across the room, his eyes quickly darting to Dumbledore. His expression was solemn. "Do we know where the next one is?"

Dumbledore sighed and shook his head. "Some clues but- " He trailed off and stared at the diadem. Merlin nodded. "Show me, hopefully I can put something together."

"Is there anyone else?" Dumbledore said shortly. "Anyone else that I need to be made aware of Merlin?"

Merlin hesitated before shaking his head. "No. Morgana is dead. Mordred is alive, and I haven't made any other lasting enemies."

"Allies?" Dumbledore prompted. Merlin shook his head. "Everyone from my time who was my friend is dead. I haven't allowed myself to become to close with anyone else, except for Nicholas. We both know what happened to him however."

"I miss him too." Dumbledore said. "But then, when you get to my age, you miss a great deal of people. I can only Imagine what it must be like for someone like you Merlin. Forgive me Merlin but I am curious. Will you ever find your rest?"

Merlin slowly turned around and stared into Dumbledore's eyes for a few moments before walking up to his desk. "The notes please."

Dumbledore nodded and handed over a small stack of carefully intoned papers. "I'm sorry." Merlin nodded stiffly and strode from the room.

~0o0~

Harry banged his head against the desk. First day back to practice, and Emrys had assigned _Snape_ to him. He groaned and mentally prepared himself for getting thrown against the room several times. Where as Emrys preferred to slowly lead him into a lesson, Snape was liable to pound it into his head until he got it. And that pounding was _literal_ sometimes. The doors slowly creaked open and he got up to face his doom.

 _ **You are still doing this wrong young wizard.**_ Kilgharrah intoned in his head. _**Remember what you see inside of your head. Motion, not a solid wall.**_

Harry nodded to himself and strode over to the dueling ring, carefully stowing his wand away. Snape climbed up the small steps and stood inside of the ring, watching him. Harry sighed and peeled off his outer robes, setting them to the side.

"Begin." Snape said. Harry thrust out his hand as Snape fired a simple stinging spell. As usual, the spell hit and Harry shook his hand and scowled to himself. Snape gave him a moment before firing a slightly stronger spell. This was the usual order of their routine, smaller spells would gradually lead into bigger ones. The theory was that eventual, his magic would get tired of the beating and be more willing to assist him. He had once asked Emrys if it was true, all he received was a gentle chuckle.

Harry decided to try something different. The dragon had intoned in his head several times that motion was the key. Something about the old religion disliking staying still for anyone. So as the spell reached him, Harry slapped it. At least he tried to, the results were him receiving a bigger sting on his hand.

Snape merely raised his eyebrows at him and raised his wand again. Harry heard the familiar laughter echo in his mind, and suddenly he wasn't in control of his arm.

 _ **Close, but you require more than movement Harry. Magic is just as important.**_ Kilgharrah said with amusement. Harry felt his arm move, his hand intercepting the spell once again. This time however, he felt a surge of magic leap from his core. It trailed up to his hand and as the spell nearly made contact with his hand _again_ , he whacked it away.

Snape stared at the spot where the stunning spell had hit the shield. He slowly turned back to Harry. "Let us see if you can duplicate your results Potter."

Harry stood ready as the familiar red streak of the stunning spell came towards him. This time, it was him in control again. As the spell nearly hit him, Harry quickly batted it away again. He grinned in success as it smashed into the shield. Snape narrowed his eyes and increased the pace of spells. Two brighter spells shot from his wand, spinning dangerously on an erratic path to him. Harry ducked under one and flung the other back at Snape.

Snape quickly raised a shield and absorbed the spell. He stood in the ring for a few seconds and quietly stared at Harry. "Where did you learn that Potter?"

"I - uh - I dunno. It just came to me Professor." He said. Technically he wasnt lying, Kilgharrah was part of him now.

"It just came to you" Snape said flatly. Harry nodded and smiled sheepishly. Snape opened his mouth to retort when the door banged open. Harry frowned and hurried over to Emrys. His cloak was torn and his face was pale with exhaustion. "Emrys?!"

The man in question waved Harry off. He held out a hand a closed his eyes. Golden wisps of power circled around his body. His cloak knitted itself back together and slowly color poured back into Emrys face. "What happened?!" Harry exclaimed. Emrys grimly stared off into the distance.

"I don't know." He said simply. He nodded to Snape. "How did the session go?"

"Your apprentice has mastered the art of - _batting away_ \- spells with remarkable ease." Snape said. He slowly walked down the platform. "Tell me Emrys. What is your secret?"

Emrys leaned against the table and folded his arms. "Whatever do you mean?"

Snape prowled close. "Most people these days see Slytherin as the house of the bigoted. The evil. Those in the world that would do anything to squeeze an extra galleon out of the poor unsuspecting in the world."

Emrys nervously shifted against the table. "I'm sorry Snape. I know it must be hard to be judged solely by the picking of a hat. After Voldemort's defeat, perhaps the world can be a little more friendly."

"What a nice little speech." Snape said. "Tell me, where did a farm boy from Ealdor learn to be so inspiring? Perhaps it comes with old age _Emrys."_

Emrys face paled instantly and he stumbled back. "H-h-how?! How could you- that's impossible! My record are gone! All that's left are a few tales of an old man, how could you possibly -?"

"Nothing is ever gone forever Emrys. I wouldn't think I would have to lecture an immortal on how to camoflauge. Emrys?" Snape sneered. "You mise well be wearing robes that project your actual name over your head."

Harry blinked and stared at both of them. Emrys was - Immortal? Harry nearly smacked his head on the wall. It was nearly painfully obvious that Emrys was much older then he had said. How else had he acquired so much knowledge, and the ability to tinker with spells like it was nothing? Perhaps he had even helped create them. Snape had hinted that he was someone. Someone important?

"If you know who I am, you know what I can do." Emrys said coldly. The room suddenly seemed to freeze and Harry involuntarily shuddered. "You are not the first to figure me out Snape. I hope if you are intelligent enough to know who I am, you are enough to know not to reveal it to everyone."

Snape regarded Emrys for a moment before slowly nodding. "Do not expect me to treat you any differently." He said before abruptly turning around and starting to walk out the room. Harry frowned.

"Wait? What is his name?"

Snape briefly stopped and turned around. "It seems you possess as much intelligence as your mentor Potter." He regarded Emrys for a moment before turning back to him.

"His name is Merlin."


End file.
